The Nines

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Ryan Reynolds fits into that elusive category of actors that I like that almost never do any good movies. Not that I think he's a young De Niro or anything, but I like his presence, I think he has potential, but he mostly just shows up in movies that suck and require him to give every line his trademark sarcasm. I think he could be a pretty good leading man movie star if he'd just get in some better movies.

Well, The Nines is better than his usual fare, and it's probably his best performance so far, but the movie is more of an entertaining failure. It's an ambitious movie, which tries to mix mindbending sci-fi/fantasy with comedy, drama, Hollywood satire, mystery and even throws in a musical number. It's the directorial debut of John August (the guy who writes all the Tim Burton movies now) and it's a fun watch at times, but a lot of it misses the mark, and the big ending/reveal fails to tie everything together in a satisfying manner. August has some amusing ideas for his reality-shifting, plot-twisting story, but it feels too intellectual or planned. These kind of stories work better when someone like David Lynch of Philip K. Dick helms it, when it doesn't feel like an arbitrary "insert weird scene here" vibe and instead feels more organically created.

This is a Donnie Darko or Vanilla Sky kind of movie, but not on their level. It's definitely better than Southland Tales, but is only a mild pleasure. Don't avoid it if you get a chance to see it, but it's not worth seeking out.