Damn!! Mean Girls really let this one loose!
Suspecting her husband, David (Liam Neeson), of infidelity, doctor Catherine (Julianne Moore) hires sexy escort Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to seduce him and test his faithfulness. But as Catherine checks in on Chloe’s encounters with David, Chloe’s reports become increasingly lurid. Soon, the relationships between all three intensify in unexpected ways.
The erotic thriller genre hasn’t been doing so well lately, as many people just don’t want to see stars getting down with one another. This film tries to revive that, instead just blows it (pun intended).
The film goes for the idea of how a woman wants to feel desirable, and feel desire, but the whole film plays out to me like a soft-core cable flick. There are moments here that actually work, showing the true emotions of that sexual desire that we all have, the only problem is that it almost seems like that’s the only thing that this film wants to be about, and by showing us scenes of Moore and Seyfried makin’ out, I think I got it.
Many moments of this film were very good with the dialogue, and how they just relied on that for an erotic feel, but where I think they mess up is about half-way through, there are these little plot twists that pop up, and I can’t lie, but their pretty dumb. The film could have easily gone for that erotic/mystery vibe, but they knocked all of that down with some terrible, cliche moments.
At a time when women are either cougars or desperate housewives, Julianne Moore delivers a sincere, if at times sexy portrayal of female desire. She handles a lot of the scenes well, and I wish there was more of just her on screen, because the film could have really went for that. Liam Neeson is the main element to this film, and is barely around although with reason. In the middle of the film, apparently his wife Natasha Richardson had the skiing accident, and died in the middle of filming, so he wasn’t really around and I understand, but still a good job though. This is a big role for Amanda Seyfried because it’s her chance to prove that she’s more than just dough-eyed romantic leads, and for the most part she pulls it off. She’s sexy, sweet, and probably a little crazy, we just don’t know yet, and Seyfried plays this all so well. I must say that I hated Max Thieriot, who plays the son of the couple named Michael. He has a couple of scenes that were supposed to be important, but were just lame because his acting was really bad.
Consensus: Boosted by good performances from the trio of leads, and steamy feeling, Chloe is hot but becomes too predictable, and is almost in a tug-of-war between a character study and sexy little B-move. However, in the end nobody wins, except if you want to see some hot lesbo action.
3.5/10=SomeOleBullShitt!!
I didn’t think this movie was that bad, but it definitely could have been better. Amanda Seyfried sure was somethin’ else though…
She really was, and that was probably my favorite element to this whole film really.
Good Review! Totally agree; couldn’t believe the ending tagged on the end of this film! Ruined an otherwise sunday afternoon TV romp!
Basically! This was just at times impressive, but other times dumb. Thanks Zeke!
I saw some of it and being a fan of Atom Egoyan. This wasn’t one of my favorites.
Plus, I had seen the original version of the film in scattered parts called Nathalie with Emmanuelle Beart in the title role plus Fanny Ardant in the Julianne Moore role and Gerard Depardieu as Liam Neeson role. I would prefer that one since it’s not as dramatic nor as stylish.
True, more style is better!
Yo, glad we agree Dan. This movie was terribly boring with almost nothing going on. Not enough tension, the story just dragged way too much. The performances are competent but not nearly enough to make this worth a watch.
The performances are good, but the rest seems to just drag on and never do much.
Nice review! I wasn’t overly impressed with Chloe, but I didn’t mind it. It was damn sexy, and I thought there was plenty of tension in the second half. While the twist wasn’t unexpected, it was all still quite cleverly constructed. Solid performances too, especially from Amanda Seyfried and Julianne Moore.
Pretty good performances but the pacing was slow, but not slow in a good way, just boring sometimes.
Harsh, but I ain’t mad at that. I didn’t like the son either.
He sucked!
great review man!
i have to say, though, that there is never anything wrong with a little lesbo action. i didn’t think this thing came off as soft-core porn. there was just that one scene, but it did seem a bit shoehorned in there. sort of like they had to find a way to get those two together to shock the audience or something. –shrugs–
you raise an intersting point on how julianne moore didn’t come ass as desperate or as a cougar, but just a sexy woman.
i didn’t even realzie this was done during the time neeson’s wife had done. i have to wonder how different it would have ended up had he been around more.
I have no problem with a little lesbo action, it’s just that it didn’t really do much for me here. Thanks bro!
understandable
anytime, man