Saturday, February 3, 2007

The Jacket

You know, I don't think the critics did this movie justice. Think One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Somewhere in Time (Keira even has a line, "Come back to me, Jack") meets The Butterfly Effect and you have The Jacket. I give it a solid B-. But then I'd give just about anything with Keira Knightley at least that (even Domino had its moments). So add Adrien Brody and Kris Kristofferson and you have a decent film. No masterpiece, mind you, and not up to the stature of either of the first two that it borrows from, but worth adding it to your Netflix list, if, like me, you've seen about every really good thing in the theater already.

If you're looking for reasons not to see it, read Steve Murray's review. He catches the connection to at least two of the earlier films, and I have to say that as I read his review, I remember thinking, "Oh yeah, I noticed that too" . . . but none of it bothered me enough to stop my enjoying the movie. Sometimes my suspension of disbelief is more willing than others (and yeah, I mean that both ways). Call it "the Knightley effect."

Of course, if you just want the plot synopsis, read Ebert's. I've quit expecting anything resembling real critique from Roger.

Did I mention Keira's in it?