360.

Another V.O.D. review of a movie with only 3 digits in the title? I was on a roll, huh? This film is an ensemble piece looking at the theme of sex in all forms and the relationships built from it. There are a bunch of characters whose stories intersect all around the world. Mirka (Lucia Siposova) is a new prostitute for Rocco (Johannes Krisch), while her sister Anna (Gabriela Marcinkova) wants better for her. Michael (Jude Law) almost cheats on his wife, Rose (Rachel Weisz), with Mirka, but realizes how much he actually cares for his wife. Rose, however, was having an affair with Rui (Juliano Cazarre), who was cheating on his own girlfriend, Laura (Maria Flor), who finds out and leaves him. While on a plane to the states, Laura meets an Older Man (Anthony Hopkins) whose daughter has been missing for years. She also meets Tyler (Ben Foster), a young man who was just released from prison for sexual assault and is having a hard time coping with the open world. And then there's an Algerian Man (Jamel Debbouze) who struggles with his Muslim religion as he copes with the fact he's fallen for one of his co-workers, who just happens to be married. And stuff.

There's a lot of stuff going on in this movie, and it all does eventually tie together. But it's very loosely tied and there's no real overarching story. It's mainly a connection of vignettes that are tied together thematically. When all is said and done, it's like if they took Love, Actually, made it darker, and merged it with something like Crash and Closer. And much like any film that's more like an anthology or collection of vignettes, some are stronger or more interesting than others.

Honestly--and this isn't just bias talking--the section with Maria Flor, Anthony Hopkins, and Ben Foster is by far the best and most interesting section. Each are compelling characters, and the whole bit has the most tension as you're not quite sure if Ben Foster is gonna snap or keep to his reformed self. Outside of my nature to gravitate towards Foster, Anthony Hopkins is just fascinating to watch. And there's a whole bit with him near the end of this section where he has this epic monologue that's probably the best part of the film.

I'm not saying the other sections were necessarily bad. They just weren't as interesting. The top billing and biggest name actors went to Jude Law and Rachel Weisz, but they honestly have such small roles that's they're not really worth mentioning. In fact, they're more of a transitional story needed for the plot. Jude Law is needed to branch the prostitution story to everything else, while Rachel is needed to introduce Rui, who is only in the film long enough to know about Laura to build up to the aforementioned best section of the film. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that this was a concept film where the concept drove the "story" instead of the "story" using the concept to expand itself... if that makes sense.

And... there's not much else to say. The acting is solid all around and probably the main reason to see the film. It's an interesting enough movie to see at least once. I do like the "everything's connected" concept, but it has been done better elsewhere. If you're going to check it out, do so for the Flor/Hopkins/Foster section of the film. The rest is interesting, too, but everything could have been a little stronger altogether.


I Am McLovin!

DEFINITELY, MAYBE.

The selling point of this movie to me was Ryan Reynolds. I’ve loved him in everything he’s done. It’s a little different with this movie, as he’s playing something I don’t believe I’ve seen him do before: a dad. The premise is very simple: Maya (Abigail Breslin) has Sex Ed one day at school and goes home with her divorcing father Will (Ryan Reynolds) and asks about how she came to be. At first he refuses because it’s too complicated, but he decides to do it as a love story mystery type thing in which he changes all the women’s names. So thus begins the intertwining love adventures between Will and Emily (Elizabeth Banks), April (Isla Fisher), and Summer (Rachel Weisz).

As far as romantic comedies go, this one was pretty good. While it was predictable at times and had a by-the-book ending, it threw in a unique twist to the story, being the flashback-laden story, which the majority of the movie takes place in. For the most part, the acting was actually done very well, though it got pretty sappy and a bit cheesy toward the end. I still loved Ryan Reynolds in this, as he kept his usual Ryan Reynolds wit and charm. Rachel Weisz was okay, but her character was pretty boring to me. Elizabeth Banks was good, too, but my favorite, of course, was Isla Fisher (which is probably because the movie sets it up that way. In other words, if this had been your average Rom Com with only one main female to fall in love with, it would have been Isla Fisher).

The props, however, have to go to Kevin Kline’s horny professor, Hampton Roth. It was an interesting role for Kline, but it worked. He was entertaining every time he was on screen. Actually, he was probably the good half of the Rachel Weisz part of the story. On the other hand, Abigail Breslin, for the little bit of movie she was actually in (as I said, a huge chunk of the movie was in flashback), did very well. She actually had some of the funniest lines in the movie, but that could be because you don’t really expect a girl of her age to say some of the things she does. It catches you off guard.

All in all, I didn’t think the ‘mom’ was as predictable as everybody is saying, but the ending itself was quite predictable. But it fit, too, as this is a Rom Com. So yeah, it was pretty good for what it was. Ryan Reynolds wins me over again (it really sounds like I have a crush on the guy).

I Am McLovin!

(P.S. Did anybody else who saw it suddenly get the strange urge to go out and read Jane Eyre afterward?)