Old-Hat Reviews: Nine

This film was so unthrilling that I almost started blogging it while we were still watching. It looks great on paper: amazing cast, songs, Italy - how could it miss? And yet...it's just not compelling at all. We stopped halfway through and I felt no compulsion to finish it tonight beyond a basic duty to the nice people at Netflix.

Daniel Day Lewis is very good - he really does disappear into the character excellently and is very believable as the charismatic Italian director who's lost his way in both his private life and the film he's supposed to be making. It also stars Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard (of fishtail dress at the Oscars fame, or at least that's what I always think of, not having actually seen any of her other films), Judi Dench, and Sophia Loren, for heaven's sake. (Whom I'm afraid I thought at first was Shirley Bassey. Sorry, Sophia, but you need to lay off the fake tan. Or the carrrot juice.) It should be great, no? But the story is kind of boring, the songs are in no way memorable, and it all gets very very meta at the end.

Chicago lite perhaps, but I won't be rushing out to buy the soundtrack for this one. Italy looks beautiful (as it should) and it's prettily lit and shot and the ladies are lovely and sexy and whatnot; it's all very picturesque, but there's no soul. Italy in the 60s has classic cars and lots of sunglasses and sharp suits, but there's a very contemporary feel to it - nothing like, for stark contrast, the amazingly gorgeous Talented Mr Ripley, where you just wanted to melt through your screen and emerge in a sun-drenched piazza to have a cafe latte and biscotti with Gwynneth Paltrow. And I'm not just saying that because of Jude, to whom I am somewhat partial. (At least, I was before he started shagging the nanny. Idiot.) It reminded us of what was possibly the best bit of all of Angel: the Ciao clip. (If you didn't watch Angel this will seem completely pointless, but believe me, it had me falling off the sofa in giggles.)

So, in short, not worth it. Though I suppose at least it gave me something to blog about. But I think I'll let B go back to manning the Netflix list.