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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  Side Effects - 2013
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), February 26th, 2013, 3:34pm
Steven Soderbergh's swan song?  We'll have to wait and see.

The movie seems to be very well received by critics, but not so much by movie goers - I can see why.

It's a tough movie to review because it's the kind that's much better to go into blind, without any ideas of what it's about, which makes it tough on box office returns any way you look at it.

I liked it.  I did not love it.  I was getting worried early on, as it's quite slow and plodding and seems to be heading in a direction I wasn't too thrilled with.  Slowly, it changes...morphs into something completely different, but still something I wasn't all that thrilled about.  Then, it morphs again, and this is when I bought in.

Good performances from all the cast - Rooney Mara, , Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and even Channing Tatum.  I'm usually not a big Jude Law fan, but I did like him in this.  I've read some reviews saying that Mara's performance is somewhat dull or sedated, but in reality, she is sedated much of the movie. I thought she rocked it, like she usually does.  I really like her as an actress and think she's a cutie as well.

The action is rather light, but once the real story kicks in, it moves pretty well.  Biggest problem I had was the finale, which I didn't completely buy into and also thought happened a little too fast and a little conveniently.  I wish they took their time here and added a few minutes at least, as I really liked where they were going - they just drove too damn fast to get there!

Nothing mind blowing here, but it deserves better than the fans have given it, as its only pulled in $25 Million on a $30 Million budget so far.  No overseas release yet, where it just may recoup its cost.  We'll see.

Better than most, but IMO, it could have and should have been better.
Posted by: albinopenguin, February 26th, 2013, 4:27pm; Reply: 1
Yeah saw this a few weeks back on a date. Needless to say, a poor choice for date night. Was a bit of a snooze fest. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. In fact, I liked it much better after it was over and I could digest things a bit. I think the story is pretty solid/interesting overall.

Overall, I feel the same way as you did Jeff. The ending is a bit too abrupt.

Too bad Sod's ending his career on this one (or so he says). It's like going out on a whimper instead of a bang.

And Mara is absolutely stunning in this film. Poor Zuckerberg missed out!
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), February 26th, 2013, 4:35pm; Reply: 2
Yeah, agree.

Rooney Mara is one of those peeps that looks different very often.  It's hard for me to even think of her in my head, as she always looks so dramatically different in both movies and when you see pics of her just hanging out.

She's a cutie though, anyway you slice it.
Posted by: Grandma Bear, September 26th, 2013, 8:32pm; Reply: 3
This one actually bored me. I was expecting a good thriller, but the first 30+minutes really dragged for me. It picked up in the second half, but there was so much exposition and unbelievable stuff I just couldn't buy it. Zeta Jones is the worst lesbian ever. I can see why movie goers didn't recommend it.
Posted by: nawazm11, September 27th, 2013, 1:28am; Reply: 4
I liked it for what it was, enjoyed the shift of protagonists halfway through, very hard to perfect when writing it yourself. This is a nice film with a lot of twists and turns, ending felt a little rushed but besides that, I'd recommend it.
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