Closer

[Auroranorth]

I just saw it this weekend, and this is what I thought:

I thought Clive Owen did a really good job. Larry was so pathetic at times, but OTHO, he made it feel so real. My friends all thought he was creepy, but to me, other than in the intro scene, he was just a guy with quirks like the rest of us. In the last scene, his revenge seemed like something a person would do in that situation. Telling the guy who'd been cheating with your girlfriend/wife that you'd slept with his ex-girlfriend is what a lot of people would do, true or not.

Julia Roberts- Seemed to be trying too hard. The effort shouldn't show. Also, what did these guys see in her? I don't get it. Her hair looked like straw, and she wasn't an appealing woman.

Jude Law- Cute, but that's it. He seemed so... pathetic. His attemped revenge on Anna was tacky and potentially dangerous, and he claims to care for her? Yuck. The way he treated Alice at the end was incredibly offensive. You spent a year cheating on her with Anna, dumped her for Anna, went crawling back after Anna dumped you, and you have the gall to be upset because she slept with someone else while you were apart, even if it was Larry? Jerk. She was wise to leave, and finding out that Alice Ayers was the name she'd picked off a memorial serves you right. Also, I don't get the ladykiller reaction here.

Natalie Portman- She did better than I'd expected. She seemed a little young for the part at times, but all in all she wasn't bad.

Final thoughts? They all needed long-term therapy.

[Alexis Machine]

Dan is supposed to be charming, persuasive, and yet, he is a cheater (he cheats on Ruth with Alice, and Cheats on Alice with Anna). His main downfall is his pursuit of 'the perfect woman." He loves both Alice and Anna when they're 'pure', i.e. what he wants them to be, and the second they show thwmselves to be fallible human beings, he loses interest. Dan should be an interesting character, but jude Law plays him as a simpering, spineless...schoolboy? I don't know. I just know that he seemed to be floundering through most of the movie.

Anna is hard to read, and I don't think the blame should be laid at Julia Robert's feet. Anna is depressed, and if you've ever spent any time around depressed people, you know that some of them are phsically, but not emotionall, there. I think both men are initially drawn to her because of the 'Knight in Shining Armor' syndrome: Here is an unhappy woman I can fix/help, and when she is better, she will be so grateful, she will be mine.

Alice is young, brash, vulnerable,strong, and cocky. I have no idea what young actress should have been cast, but I think natalie Portman was horrible. I just didn't buy her as this woman. She was either twitching too much, whining too much, and she just flat out annoyed me.

I think Clive owen was perfect as Larry.

[Deleted]

KaitlinsNana said:

Just got around to watching this one this weekend...did anyone besides me think this was nothing but huge WASTE OF TIME?

Just watched and would have to agree with you. Also, I am a bit concerned now about one of my close friends who just raved about the movie. I remember after she saw it she told me "It's not some Hollywood version of relationships, it's how relationships really are and how we really speak to each other"

I must only be in really boring relationships because I have never had a conversation like any of these conversations. And I'm not just talking about the "play speak" of it all.

I laughed out loud though when Natalie Portman said "I am NOTHING!" and then spat. It was just so . . . bad? Unrealistic? Obviously a movie?

I really didn't like it. I hated the characters, hated the actors playing the characters, never once forgot that it was a bunch of actors playing a bunch of characters.

Plus, the script seemed to me like it was written by a 10-year-old boy. Could the world "cum" have been used more?

And at the end with the Jane Jones passport reveal I actually rolled my eyes. Was that supposed to be a dramatic surprise?

This movie had all the ingredients to be good: Big talented actors, script based on a huge play, talented director . . . yet it all just fell flat for me.

[sumire]

Well, I did like the passport reveal, but then they ruined things again by ending the movie with that super-cheezy slo-mo shot of men gawking at Natalie Portman walking down the street. Jesus.

I can't complain too much, though, since I saw it at the dollar theater (a sold-out showing--evidently people are desperate for cheap entertainment on Saturday nights here). For me, the worst thing is that I tend to say "Thank you" a lot, and now every time I do it, I think of the strip club scene and feel skeezy.

[Deleted]

I thought Clive Owen's character was very manipulative. The way that he traded the divorce papers for sex seemed sort of underhanded, because he knew it would mess up Jude Law once he found out. And, he was able to do the *exact* same thing a second time when he told Jude in the dermatologist's office that he had slept with Alice. Larry just seemed so slimy to me. Slimier than Jude Law's character, even though Jude's was probably worse if you looked at his habits of cheating.

Julia Roberts looked like refried ass in that black jumpsuit with the white henley shirt underneath. What were the costumers thinking?

[angel17987]

I Netflixed this and watched it over the weekend and now that it's over I've come to five conclusions:

1. Jude Law isn't that hot
2. Natalie Portman cannot act at all in anything (which I pretty much already knew)
3. I like Clive Owen (I never realized that before)
4. I'm still indifferent to Julia Roberts
5. All in all, not a bad movie

I thought it was pretty good. Everyone I heard about it from kept talking about how filthy it was. Maybe I'm jaded, but I didn't think it was that bad. There were definetely dirty parts and the dialogue could be embarrassing and smutty at times, but I wasn't shocked or appaled or anything.

I think it was a well executed movie and well casted. Clive Owen did a fantastic job. Natalie Portman was way overhyped but not horrible. Julia Roberts did decently. I didn't think Jude Law's perfomance was weak at all. I think he did a really good job actually. My impression was that Dan was supposed to be a weak character and Jude protrayed that quite well. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, but it obviously fit with the film. Also, I wasn't that skeeved out by Larry. Sure, he could be manipulative and a little sleazy, but I don't think he was a bad guy and I didn't find anything he did unforgiveable.

It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but I don't feel like I've wasted 2 hours of my life either.

[realitybug]

I liked the movie. Some of you speak like you can't distinguish between the actors and their characters. The characters aren't the actors, and that doesn't make them suck any more or less. Just a character.

Anyways, I'm on the side of thinking Natalie did wonderfully. I'm a fan of hers, adore her, love her acting (Except Star Wars), and this movie was no different. She did a great job playing t his girl. Just so complex and sexy. Love her.

Julia Roberts...well, she made me dislike Anna so much, so kudos to her for that!

Clive Owen is a god.

Jude did a good job playing such a slag. I wanted to just slap him for how he treated Alice.

[Hamatron]

I give this movie a great big 'meh.' I just never even remotely cared about the characters or the plot as I was watching. I think part of it is that it seemed like everyone in it was miscast (Clive Owen was ok, I guess), and I generally am fine with all of four actors if in a good role for them, so it's not like I was turned off by them being in the film.

[Deleted]

Some of you speak like you can't distinguish between the actors and their characters.

Treading thin water, my friend. Topic: I have no desire to see this movie. It seems to be rather depressing stuff.

[kostgard]

I give this movie a great big 'meh.' I just never even remotely cared about the characters or the plot as I was watching.

I liked the movie, but I didn't really care about the characters because they were all so damn unpleasant, with the possible exception of Natalie Portman's character, but as revealed in the end she was lying about something pretty major (although interesting that she was honest to Clive Owen about it, but probably knew it was a situation where he wouldn't believe her).

I liked the movie in that it wasn't at all romantic, and looked at the ugly side of "love." But at the same time, I hated everyone in it (again, except for Natalie) because they were just a bunch of vile, selfish people.