In a fit of desperation to watch something other than something that was in my own personal DVD collection, I found that this film was just starting on HBO so I figured, in a fit of solicitude that I would give it a shot.
Again, I let myself wander into the bad movie trap. The only thing that made me decide to even try this film is that it had a reasonable cast: Angelina Jolie yes, she has had some sub-par films lately, but she does have the ability to act. Edward Burns a mediocre actor and filmmaker but not hard on the eyes at least, and Tony Shalhoub a brilliant character actor. What I didn't realize is that this Olympic podium of actors, (gold, silver & bronze get it?) would be ignorant or desperate enough to be in such a stupid film. Jolie plays an ambitious and vaguely bubble-headed Seattle television reporter who, while taping a fluff piece with her nemesis of a camera man (Ed Burns) she is told by a homeless `prophet' (Shalhoub) that she has a week to live.
*Possible Spoiler Alert*
Let the mayhem ensue. Of course she at first goes through denial and skepticism, and then she goes through the obligatory `I don't care so I'm going to do the worst things ever to myself' which pretty much boils down to eating a pizza and wearing her glasses instead of contacts. We are supposed to believe that she is deep because we find out that she wasn't always ultra-glamorous, and that now that she doesn't care what happens to her, she has now changed and cool because she walks around in a black Suicidal Tendencies t-shirt. Along the way she realizes things about her life that should be changed (we should all be so lucky to be counseled by a fake homeless guy in order to sort out our lives) and breaks and mends various relationships in her life.
While we do learn the answer to a question that plagues us all, that Angelina Jolie should never have platinum blonde hair, I think the most disappointing thing about this film is that it had the potential to be decent and fell so short that it borders on offensive.
--Shelly
Again, I let myself wander into the bad movie trap. The only thing that made me decide to even try this film is that it had a reasonable cast: Angelina Jolie yes, she has had some sub-par films lately, but she does have the ability to act. Edward Burns a mediocre actor and filmmaker but not hard on the eyes at least, and Tony Shalhoub a brilliant character actor. What I didn't realize is that this Olympic podium of actors, (gold, silver & bronze get it?) would be ignorant or desperate enough to be in such a stupid film. Jolie plays an ambitious and vaguely bubble-headed Seattle television reporter who, while taping a fluff piece with her nemesis of a camera man (Ed Burns) she is told by a homeless `prophet' (Shalhoub) that she has a week to live.
*Possible Spoiler Alert*
Let the mayhem ensue. Of course she at first goes through denial and skepticism, and then she goes through the obligatory `I don't care so I'm going to do the worst things ever to myself' which pretty much boils down to eating a pizza and wearing her glasses instead of contacts. We are supposed to believe that she is deep because we find out that she wasn't always ultra-glamorous, and that now that she doesn't care what happens to her, she has now changed and cool because she walks around in a black Suicidal Tendencies t-shirt. Along the way she realizes things about her life that should be changed (we should all be so lucky to be counseled by a fake homeless guy in order to sort out our lives) and breaks and mends various relationships in her life.
While we do learn the answer to a question that plagues us all, that Angelina Jolie should never have platinum blonde hair, I think the most disappointing thing about this film is that it had the potential to be decent and fell so short that it borders on offensive.
--Shelly