Review of “Fracture” & “In the Land of Women”
The paramount question that comes immediately to mind about Fracture is this: If Adam Sandler gets continually dissed for playing essentially the same role in every film, how come Anthony Hopkins doesn’t catch the same grief?
In Fracture, he’s an uptight engineer whose wife, Embeth Davitz, is having an affair. So he does what any intelligent, obsessive, psychopathic character would do — and what Hopkins has done in those roles before — he shoots her in the head. Meet Hannibal Lector without a taste for human brains lightly sauteed. It’s not like Hopkins isn’t a good actor — he most certainly is — or that he hasn’t other chops. It’s simply that he’s taken to similar roles now every time. Let’s silence those lambs, for heavens’ sake.
Truth is that he’s not really the star of this film Ryan Gosling is. And it’s about time. He’s been a stalwart since The Believer, having dazzled audiences in The Notebook and most recently, Half Nelson, an award-worthy performance as a coke-addled inner city high school teacher. Here he’s the prosecutor, going mano a mano with Hopkins, who has figured out every single angle to his murderous act in order to get an acquittal.
So we’ve got your wife murder. Your crafty killer. Your top-drawer prosecutor, who is moving on to private practice with LA’s hottest firm. To work under — literally — the delectable Rosamund Pike. And you’ve got those eerily intense eyes belonging to Anthony Hopkins, who, it turns out, decides to represent himself at his trial.
Unlike Perfect Stranger, there’s no reason to reveal any plot spoilers. Suffice it to say that his wife’s paramour is the homicide detective assigned to the case. Therein lies the scenario.
Gosling is more than a match for Hopkins. We should be most grateful this movie wasn’t filmed ten years ago. If so, mush-mouthed Matthew McConaughey would have played Gosling’s part and would have butchered it like a side of beef before the Fourth of July BBQ. Instead we get possibly the next big thing, Ryan Gosling, who gives up nary an inch of scenery to chewer extraordinaire Hopkins.
* * * * *
I’m not sure what to make of In the Land of Women.
Adam Brody gets dumped by his model girlfriend in LA. So he moves to Michigan to take care of his grandmother, played by — speaking of somebody who needs some new schtick — Olympis Dukakis.
The neighborhood is the star of the film really. Do they have some lovely homes and yards. Oy. I’d love to know where this was filmed. Dukakis’s neighbors include Meg Ryan and her daughter, played by Kristen Stewart. Ryan has breast cancer. Stewart has boyfriend problems. Brody becomes pal and confessor to both.
They characters talk. They listen. They emote. Not much happens. Everybody grows.
Which doesn’t explain this. Why on earth would a delightfully lovely presence like Meg Ryan need to get a nose job? And not a very good one either. Totally unnecessary. And inexplicable. She can still act though. What a delight to see her back on the scene. Nose bob and all.
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