George Clooney is dour and serious as the title character in this too slow, unthrilling thriller. Here are the good parts: beautiful vistas and street scenes in Sweden and Italy, the assembly of certain mechanical objects, Clooney exercising in his room, and pretty girls, occasionally naked. Even the music annoyed me (heavy handed). Jack and I couldn't figure out why Clooney picked this project. It must have seemed better on paper. After I wrote about my favorite Clooney work (and there's a lot) in The Men Who Stare at Goats, he was in Fantastic Mr. Fox and was nominated for an Oscar for Up in the Air. Rowan Joffe (writer of 28 Weeks Later (2007)), son of director Roland Joffe (Killing Fields (1984), The Mission (1986)) adapted the script from a novel, A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth, which a number of people on imdb said was good. Dutch director Anton Corbijn has directed music videos, shorts, and one feature (about the band Joy Division) before tackling this one and wrestling it to the ground.
I wish I had written "Those who believe they’d be happy watching George Clooney do nothing for two hours can now test that theory." Here's a link to the entire spoiler-filled review. With a 62% on rottentomatoes and 6.9 out of 10 on imdb, it was #1 at the box office last weekend (its first, it opened on Wednesday 9/1/10). There's no accounting for taste.
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