Henry Saw: Chloe

This was bad...very bad...


What a bland and lifeless movie. Everyone in the movie seems incredibly bored, the film never makes us believe anything is at stake, and the whole thing is as forgettable a film as I've seen in some time.

IMDB's plot description: Catherine and David, she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have an idyllic life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine's long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself 'directing' Chloe's encounters with David, and Chloe's end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply.

Directed by Atom Egoyan, best known for "The Sweet Hereafter", Chloe is a plodding and useless waste of time. The tone, consistently cold and uninspired, is almost antagonistic towards anyone who would want to be interested in the film. It's slow, predictable, and, despite dealing with some grounded and human issues, strangely robotic.

Julianne Moore, who is probably my least favorite working actress, uses her same old bag of tricks. She's normal, then bitchy, then manic, then cries for a bit, then does a sex scene, and rinse and repeat. Liam Neeson, distractingly using his Taken accent (I kept waiting for him to talk about a particular set of skills), is fine. He's well cast, he is a charming and good looking older man (which is all that the role demands), but was probably only required to do about 2 weeks of shooting. He breezes through all his scenes, raises his voice a few times, and banks some independent film cred I suppose.

Amanda Seyfried, known for her roles in Mama Mia and Big Love, is pretty damn bad. She's pretty, but not that alluring or sexy, and that's a big requirement for the role. We never believe her infatuation with Julianne Moore and her husband, we never buy her as a threat when the movie goes into Fatal Attraction mode, and we never care about her character.



The film's biggest flaw is the script. It's filled with unrealistic scenes (the scene where Neeson is lecturing a class is ridiculous), predictable reveals, and godawful dialogue. The characters talk like they were in a Danielle Steele novel adapted by one of James Patterson's ghost writers.

Ugh. Just total crap. There is no need for you to ever watch this movie. It has nothing to offer, even though it thinks it seems to have somewhat lofty aspirations, and is just plain boring. This a movie to be actively avoided.

Grade: D

Best Scene: ...uh....hm....I guess when Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore have a confrontation in their favorite cafe...but that's just because I have to pick one...