Perfectly dreadful thriller, strictly late-night cable fare that should have stayed that way but somehow managed to attract a talented cast and director.
Halle Berry stars as journalist Rowena, who infiltrates Bruce Willis´ ad agency to solve her friend´s murder. Not out for justice, or anything like that; she just wants a good story.
Berry looks nice but is far too bland in the lead, Willis is given nothing to do, and the movie is stillborn right from the start. No sex, no nudity, no violence – it´s like Basic Instinct, edited for TV, and they went and took out all the suspense too.
Astonishing fascination with instant messaging is laughable; complete lack of tension generates a prevalence of documentary-like IM chatting sessions that treat the medium as a new and exotic method of communication.
Too dull to be offensive, but that doesn´t stop them from trying: the ending is so ridiculous it would have completely sunk an otherwise decent movie; here, we embrace it as a sign that this endurance test is finally over. P
oor James Foley, who survived Who´s That Girl to give us an excellent adaptation of Mamet´s Glengarry Glen Ross; it´s been downhill since then, however, and this might be the bottom.
