Side Effects, a Review

For whatever reason, I never get as excited as I maybe should when I see the words: directed by Steven Soderbergh. Whatever Soderbergh does is interesting, except for maybe Haywire which I stopped watching halfway through and Ocean’s 12 which put me to sleep in the theater. A majority of the time his movies are always worth a peep, weather they're those A lister mainstream experiments with quirky indy moments or those quirky indy experiments with pornstars posing as actors. Regardless, I find myself thinking of his work as movies that will be just fine on DVD, there’s no reason to go to the theater because his “independent” vibe gives me the prejudicial assumption that there will be a lack of spectacle. Besides his 1991 film Kafka, that’s pretty much true.
But going to the theater and sitting through Side Effects made me reflect on Soderbergh and his filmography, especially after his recent claims that this could be his last before retiring. I really enjoyed Side Effects, it’s definitely worth a trip to the theater, and I’m glad I paid the money if only to show my appreciation for Soderbergh who, due to his insane productivity and possible oversaturation, I have taken for granted the last ten years or so.
This film, his 30th I believe, starts out as a drama about coping with depression, before shifting gears midway into what appears to be an interesting procedural, before shifting gears yet again and becoming a completely satisfying psychological thriller. It’s Hitchcockian and clever, with interesting characters and surprises that make you guess and give you goosebumps as they add up.

Jude Law is great, yeah I said it. At one point I was over Law (even though he appears with a super flawed American accent in one of my favorite films of all time I Heart Huckabees) but this is the second time in six months that he’s popped up in a movie I’m watching and I’ve enjoyed and respected his performance (the first one was Ana Karenina which everybody seemed to detest but I dug). He’s controlled and likable but is down to get a little harcore at the end and come through with a vengeance that the entire audience can appreciate.

On the other hand, Rooney Mara started to grind on me a bit. I can only look into those big blank eyes for so long before I start to get annoyed, which in this case was right at the end of the movie so, all good. She’s pretty, no doubt, but she’s so skinny and hip in that sort of Zooey Daschanel IT girl, this is how a young woman is supposed to look right now way. I don’t know, maybe it was just her haircut that was getting on my nerves, the way the bangs were cut, almost like a grown out mullet, that years from now we’ll look back on and say “that was so 2013!” I’m laying the hate on pretty thick right now, sorry.

Channing Tatum shouldn’t be listed on the poster, he probably has fifteen minutes of screen time total. That’s a warning to the ladies that are going in hopes of getting their Tatum fix, although he might have taken his shirt off, I don’t remember. Catherine Zeta-Jones is perfectly fine in her role but there’s something about her, I don’t know, I’m just not impressed. Don’t get me wrong, she’s gorgeous, there’s just something about her that bothers me and makes me think she’s a bitch in real life. Maybe it’s the fact that when I see her I think of that story Michael Douglas tells on talk shows where he was watching The Mask of Zoro on TV and asked his butler: “Who is that woman?” at which point his people got in touch with her people and they got together to mate. That’s gross.

I really can’t get into the details of Side Effect’s plot because it’s a fun ride that everyone should enjoy fresh and unspoiled. I place it up on the shelf along with all of the other Soderbergh movies that I’ve watched and enjoyed which include The Limey, Ocean’s 11, Traffic, Che Parts 1 & 2, Solaris, Out of Sight, The Good German, The Informat!, and of course the groundbreaking and mesmerizing Sex, Lies, and Videotape. But that’s just one man’s opinion.

02/10/13