Reviews

Despite every awful review this movie has received -including Roger Ebert ominous one as "the worst movie of 1988"- I loved it when it was first released and I still enjoy it.The plot may be faulty, but the atmosphere is great and the music by Bruce Broughton is -as expected-very good.For me -and many of my(according to what Mr.Ebert could think on this subject) "tasteless" friends, it still remains a cult film to be enjoyed again once in a while. The naivete of Michael (Tom Berenger) the priest has credibility in terms of his position in his family. The "finale" with his last phrase and the entrance of his sister Zena (Anne Twomey)and the very last scene at the car with her are simply terrific and impossible to forget no mater how many years have passed.

A good script and an excellent casting are an immediate invitation to watch this movie. It is a rather difficult task to find some new twists in today's movie-making, and this film accomplishes it. For all of us fans of great Jennifer Anniston, this film definitely demonstrates that she is far more than a wonderful comedian. He truly excels in drama as well as in lighter performances. Clive Owen gives his usual expert performance ad the rest of the cast is impeccable. The rhythm of the plot keeps you going all the way until the end.The ups and downs are expertly devised to keep you guessing all the time, and once you are beginning to figured it out you have already enjoyed most of the movie. The rest is pure entertainment.

No one of the characters acquires the slightest level of credibility in this failed attempt to produce a movie with a touch of transcendence. The first philosophical comments by Richard Gere promise -at least for the connoisseur- a glimpse into the deeper side of human life that, unfortunately, never comes to get going in this insipid movie. The presence of French Juliette Binoche -a delightful actress- is insufficient to get this movie out of the hole of inconsistency and nonsense. Nothing seems real, the characters are completely undeveloped. The audience is deluded into believe that this movie is going to tell something insightful about Inner quest, mystic search and emotional alienation in close relationships. The movie seems a failed try to mix the American look with the European touch in movie making.The author, director ad crew, must keep looking to produce something meaningful of the sort. Richard Gere (as well as has happened to Kevin Costner) needs to find a way out of this dreadful trail of later. His fans -and I am one of them- are sill waiting!