Dir. John August, US, 2007, 99 mins
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy
Review by Carol Allen
This is a bizarre and complicated film telling three different but overlapping stories all featuring the same three actors. The first (The Prisoner) is about a tv cop show star (Reynolds) subject to house arrest after a drink and drugs binge, where his only links with the outside world are his controlling, irritatingly cheery publicist (McCarthy) and his next door neighbour (Davis), who is herself "imprisoned" by her baby, never seen but only heard over a portable baby alarm. The second story (Reality Television) is a behind the scenes mock doc about the making of a tv drama pilot, where Reynolds as its writer is insisting that his best friend Mary (McCarthy) plays the lead, while the producer (Davis) is trying to get her off the show, because the focus groups don't react well to a fat, plain leading lady. While in the third tale (Knowing) Reynolds, a video games designer, his wife (McCarthy) and their little girl (Elle Fanning), who may or may not be deaf, break down in their car in the wilderness and turn for help to a mysterious stranger (Davis). It's not that simple though. In all three stories, Davis is trying to free the Reynolds character from McCarthy. The stories break into each other, as for example the writer in "Reality Television" is the owner of the house in which the tv cop is imprisoned and can be heard typing away in the supposedly empty house, while the number nine is an ongoing supernatural theme in the film, which is just over 99 minutes long.
The three main performers are all good, particularly McCarthy, who is, as the narrative tartly points out, the sort of plump actress, who rarely gets a look in due to the fact that the media world promotes stick insect proportions as the female ideal. There are some amusingly knowing references to other films, such as Misery and A Beautiful Mind and the second story in particular makes some good points about the trivia of television. The real subject matter however is the nature of reality, as we try to work what is real and what is not in a multi layered structure, which is reminiscent of Chinese nesting boxes or Russian dolls. The resolution of the puzzle, which has distinct echoes of the world created by The Matrix, could be seen as either deeply philosophical or merely ridiculous. John August, who also wrote the script, does however have an original and creative way of looking at the world and telling stories and while it is sometimes irritating, this movie is consistently intriguing and entertaining. It is also, I would suggest, about nine minutes too long.
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