It would be fitting that my first 2011 movie of the year would be one with Jake Gyllenhaal. Actually, it just happened that way much more than it was planned out. I've been hearing some decent things about it, and I wanted to reconnect with my friend Jessica, who I haven't seen in awhile. Thusly, these things conspired to bring this about.
We went to the AMC at Hall and Mound (it's been awhile since I've been there, but Jess had a free ticket, and the ten dollars I paid for mine reminded me why we started going to the MJR in the first place) for a 720 showing. This was after Erika and Parviz and I played two games of Ticket to Ride (I came in second place for about the seventh time) and we went shopping at The Somerset Collection (it was my first time; it's huge). I bought a few nice shirts (all different shades of blue: just call me Duncan Kane) at American Eagle. Then I drove to the theatre to meet Jess.
The film starts just a little bit confusingly at first, but it doesn't take too long to really get into it. And, since it's much more of a "popular" film than an "arty" film, the confusion is cleared up pretty quickly. (As the film continues, it becomes clearer and clearer that Jeffrey Wright's sole purpose in the film is to clearly explain the "intricacies" of Source Code... take him out and we get a little bit from Vera Farmiga and we have to figure the rest out. Hmm...) Jake Gyllenhaal is pretty great in the film (like always; plus, he looks great), and Michelle Monaghan does a really nice job repeating some of the same words over and over (and, she looks great), and Vera Farmiga has a very soothing voice (and I love her, of course, if you've read my synopses of either Up in the Air or Nothing But the Truth).
The movie is fine; it's the kind of film I would recommend as a rental, but not to paper double-digit dollars for to see in the theatre. It's enjoyable enough, being neither cloying nor overly "intelligent", though everything about the ending that I heard was very true: the last five or so minutes were really pretty awful, and exactly what you'd expect from a movie that had no idea how they wanted to end it. (Hint to the studios: it should have ended at the kiss. DUH.)
Score: 7.5/10
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