Mary Reilly
1/4
Starring: Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, George Cole, Michael Gambon, Glenn Close
Rated R for Notable Gore and Some Strong Violence
As I put my recently purchased copy of "Mary Reilly" into the my Xbox, I had no idea what I was going to see. I knew it was a new take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic tale, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," but the cast and crew reads like something out of a high voltage drama. Julia Roberts' career has never involved a horror movie, and Stephen Frears is to horror what Uve Boll is to Oscar contenders. But I knew I would be in good hands because Roberts and Malkovich are always good, and Stephen Frears had yet to direct a movie that I didn't adore (his credits include "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and "High Fidelity" to name two). Needless to say, I was wrong.
Mary Reilly (Roberts) is the new chambermaid at the household of wealthy scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll (Malkovich). She comes from a bad past, but her new employer takes a liking to her. He's aloof and cold, but kind. Then one day Jekyll announces that he'll be having a new assistant, Mr. Edward Hyde (Malkovich), who will have the run of the house. Both Jekyll and Hyde fall for Mary and she for them.
There is little in this film that actually works. The characters are so thin that calling them two-dimensional would be greatly overestimating their depth. The acting is lousy. The story doesn't make a lot of sense. The script is self-important to the nth degree. There are plot holes and continuity gaffes everywhere. About the only thing I can compliment the film on is that it looks great.
Julia Roberts is a great actress, but this is easily the worst performance she's ever given. Roberts is shockingly stiff as the mousy maid, and rather than being an interesting character we can get behind, Mary comes across as a whimpering wimp who does things only to move the plot along (and it's already at a crawl). John Malkovich fares somewhat better. Jekyll is somewhat sympathetic, although Hyde is just a creepy pervert. Glenn Close chews the scenery in the few scenes in which she appear (and her bad performance doesn't help matters). Michael Gambon is the only one who gives a legitimate performance (he plays Mary's alcoholic dad).
Stephen Frears must have been under the assumption that no one knows the basic storyline of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." We know that they're the same person, so we're waiting for an unending amount of time for Mary to figure it out.
Maybe it was the source material, but the script for "Mary Reilly" is atrocious (I'm arguing that it was Valerie Martin's novel, as screenwriter Christopher Hampton wrote the scripts for "Atonment" and "The Quiet American"). Most of the time, the characters talk in banal dialogue that serves no purpose. When they actually have a conversation, they talk in various profundities that, when you take the time to really think about them, make no sense.
Ultimately, the biggest problem with the film is that none of the three leads are developed. Not only are they boring, their lack of depth doesn't allow the theme of Stevenson's story to come to the surface. Jekyll and Hyde seem like two different people. So not only is the film tedious, it's completely pointless.
Starring: Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, George Cole, Michael Gambon, Glenn Close
Rated R for Notable Gore and Some Strong Violence
As I put my recently purchased copy of "Mary Reilly" into the my Xbox, I had no idea what I was going to see. I knew it was a new take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic tale, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," but the cast and crew reads like something out of a high voltage drama. Julia Roberts' career has never involved a horror movie, and Stephen Frears is to horror what Uve Boll is to Oscar contenders. But I knew I would be in good hands because Roberts and Malkovich are always good, and Stephen Frears had yet to direct a movie that I didn't adore (his credits include "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and "High Fidelity" to name two). Needless to say, I was wrong.
Mary Reilly (Roberts) is the new chambermaid at the household of wealthy scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll (Malkovich). She comes from a bad past, but her new employer takes a liking to her. He's aloof and cold, but kind. Then one day Jekyll announces that he'll be having a new assistant, Mr. Edward Hyde (Malkovich), who will have the run of the house. Both Jekyll and Hyde fall for Mary and she for them.
There is little in this film that actually works. The characters are so thin that calling them two-dimensional would be greatly overestimating their depth. The acting is lousy. The story doesn't make a lot of sense. The script is self-important to the nth degree. There are plot holes and continuity gaffes everywhere. About the only thing I can compliment the film on is that it looks great.
Julia Roberts is a great actress, but this is easily the worst performance she's ever given. Roberts is shockingly stiff as the mousy maid, and rather than being an interesting character we can get behind, Mary comes across as a whimpering wimp who does things only to move the plot along (and it's already at a crawl). John Malkovich fares somewhat better. Jekyll is somewhat sympathetic, although Hyde is just a creepy pervert. Glenn Close chews the scenery in the few scenes in which she appear (and her bad performance doesn't help matters). Michael Gambon is the only one who gives a legitimate performance (he plays Mary's alcoholic dad).
Stephen Frears must have been under the assumption that no one knows the basic storyline of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." We know that they're the same person, so we're waiting for an unending amount of time for Mary to figure it out.
Maybe it was the source material, but the script for "Mary Reilly" is atrocious (I'm arguing that it was Valerie Martin's novel, as screenwriter Christopher Hampton wrote the scripts for "Atonment" and "The Quiet American"). Most of the time, the characters talk in banal dialogue that serves no purpose. When they actually have a conversation, they talk in various profundities that, when you take the time to really think about them, make no sense.
Ultimately, the biggest problem with the film is that none of the three leads are developed. Not only are they boring, their lack of depth doesn't allow the theme of Stevenson's story to come to the surface. Jekyll and Hyde seem like two different people. So not only is the film tedious, it's completely pointless.
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