(rated R, 107 mins.)
A movie about movies for people who like movies, appears to have all the elements: Low budget, cameos of the top Hollywood stars and Steve Soderbergh directing in what most are calling his follow-up to “Sex Lies and Videotape”. Soderbergh, obviously in an experimental mood, may have chose the wrong experiment. It’s the kind of movie you get to make when you’ve won your Oscar and have a string of hits like “Out of Sight” and “Traffic”, one guesses. Clearly a labor of love for him and just a plain labor for us moviegoers is the story of complicated characters including Julia Roberts, David Hyde Pierce, David Duchovny, Catherine Keener, Mary McCormack and Blair Underwood. Linda (McCormack) would love to be loved. Carl (Pierce) loves his wife Lee (Keener) but Lee is looking to be loved by Calvin (Underwood). Catherine, who is really Francesca (Roberts) finds true love but Gus loves himself. With me? Didn’t think so. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, over a 24 hour period, the story attempts to bind together fragile relationships that are hard to follow in the first place.
A movie about movies for people who like movies, appears to have all the elements: Low budget, cameos of the top Hollywood stars and Steve Soderbergh directing in what most are calling his follow-up to “Sex Lies and Videotape”. Soderbergh, obviously in an experimental mood, may have chose the wrong experiment. It’s the kind of movie you get to make when you’ve won your Oscar and have a string of hits like “Out of Sight” and “Traffic”, one guesses. Clearly a labor of love for him and just a plain labor for us moviegoers is the story of complicated characters including Julia Roberts, David Hyde Pierce, David Duchovny, Catherine Keener, Mary McCormack and Blair Underwood. Linda (McCormack) would love to be loved. Carl (Pierce) loves his wife Lee (Keener) but Lee is looking to be loved by Calvin (Underwood). Catherine, who is really Francesca (Roberts) finds true love but Gus loves himself. With me? Didn’t think so. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, over a 24 hour period, the story attempts to bind together fragile relationships that are hard to follow in the first place.