From: jules
Category: Amis
Date: 7/25/99
Time: 7:37:19 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.201.64
Stan Kubrick died waiting for Nicole Kidman to get her lines out. The coup de grâce for the great dierector was seeing the final cut of *Eyes Wide Shut.* Cause of death: a nightmare on the fourth night after completing the film.
What in the name of movie-making was Sydney Pollack -a Director- doing "trying" to act in this film? All I could think of when Sidney, as "Victor Zeigler," was on screen was his big, furrowed face looking like a peeled apple left out in the sun for several weeks. Stan must've owed Syd big-time. No friendship deserves marring your final masterpiece.
In spite of these flaws, overall, *Eyes Wide Shut* was worth its matinée fee in entertainment. This is due singularly to the splendiferous acting and charismatic appeal of its star: Tom Cruise. The man is a true moviestar; his essence of vulnerabilty makes him 'real,' and he outshines everyone in the film including his wife whose long legs and alabaster skin were her only assets.
I kept wondering during the the so-called "orgy scene" where Kubrick and his casting director found all those long-limbed young nymphets: naked and masked, except for high heels and G-strings during some premininary [bogus] Druid ritual. These sex-slaves performed orgiastically in a New York suburban, Gothic mansion for a bunch of cloaked & caped D.O.M. voyeurs. Every one of the women had the exact same cup-size, and not a cc of silicone among the mams.
Oh, and the dialogue! Good lord, gentlemen! Stan and his co-writer, Raphael, must've given up and just let the actors repeat each other: Druid Master: "Get Undressed!" Tom Cruise: "Get Undressed?"
Seductive D.O.M.: "Would you like to have some fun? Nicole Kidman: "Would I like to have some fun?"
Hooker: "Do you want to come inside with me?" Tom Cruise: "Do I want to come inside with you?"
Okay you get the idea. The worst line in the film was the last one, uttered by Mrs. Cruise. (I won't give it away, but, hint: it's Anglo-Saxon, one syllable, and can be used as a noun, verb or an adjective.)
The best line was immediately after this one when the credits came on, and uttered by a man behind me in the theater: "Ridiculous."
julie Clinch