Finally got to see it this weekend. Loved it! It's between Ray and Closer for my fav film of 2004 thus far. (But many more on the way.)

I had a couple next to me say it was slow and boring, and I saw two couples walk out. So I think it is/will be a polarizing "love it/hate it" type of film.

The dialog was brilliant! I hope the script is included on the DVD.

I thought the film was good; better than a lot of the stuff that is out there. That said, there was nothing "fantastic" about this movie - no special effects, outrageous plot lines, high flying stunts, but ultimately that is what made this film good. It deals with people like me and you and the relationships they are in (sometimes exaggerated). The core of the movie was how people react to what life gives you and each of the performers pull it off. I was shocked that I could watch Julia Roberts in this film and that she was actually playing this character as opposed to being the romantic comedy - I-am-playing-the-same-character-over-and-over.
Also, while watching the film, I felt like this could be a great play and then my girlfriend pointed out that this was a play and adapted for the screen, which makes a lot of sense.

It took me forever, but I finally got to see Closer.

It was definitely worth the wait. Clive Owen & Natalie Portman (as others have said are outstanding).

The dialogue is first-rate, even if it's not exactly how "normal" people talk. This is definitely more of a filmed stage play, and fans of other Julia Roberts' movies probably won't like it.

There is not much of a plot, the ending doesn't really pay off, and the character's are mostly unlikable as**oles.

But, it sure is fun to watch them tangle for an hour and 40 minutes.

BTW - this film has some of the most crude sexual dialogue you'll ever hear in a so-called mainstream motion picture. I can totally understand why the studio never let this go much beyond 1,000 theatres.

***1/2 out of ****


check out Damien Rice's amazing song "The Blower's Daughter" (which opens and closes the film) here:
http://www.warnerbrosrecords.com/damienrice/

Damien Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter" is indeed amazing. The song fits perfectly with the movie. Clive Owen & Natalie Portman surely make this film good but I just can't believe that they did not get nominated for the SAG awards, which is voted by their acting peers.

Nice to see Clive Owen and Natalie Portman both win Golden Globes for "Closer."
Hopefully, more people will get to check it out on DVD. :)

I finally saw this movie last night and agree with Frank TJ Mackey's comments for the most part. Felt like a play, but a good one at that. Great performances from all the characters, even though they were not very likeable. At first I was disappointed when Clive Owen won the GG, but now I see why...he did a fantastic job. 3 1/2 / 4 stars.

Not a whole lot of people are mentioning Jude Law and (gulp) Julia Roberts' work in this movie. IMO they both did a hell of a whole lot better in their roles than Portman did. Portman was never truly convincing in the stripper scenes and her last scene with Law in the motel room is downright pathetic.

Owen rules all, however. Best acting in the film and deserving of his upcoming Oscar nom.

Jude Law did a solid job. However, he's always good. I felt his best work this year was in Alfie though. As for Roberts...I'm typically not a fan of hers. However, this was her best role in years, IMO.

Looking forward to catching this on DVD.

I guess I am in the camp that it was good, but not great. Also agree that Owen and Portman were excellent in this film. Thought the acting overall was very good. It just seemed to be missing something to make me really like it and want to watch it over and over again (aside from the Portman stripper scene).

I just saw this movie over the weekend. I thought the acting was very, very good. But I have to agree with Ketamine that the movie seemed to be missing something to make it a great movie. I would probably say B- for the movie.

I actually saw it for the first time this past weekend as well. I liked it but can't say that I'm going to rush out and tell people they have to see it (like I did with Ray and Hotel Rwanda).

I really like this film. It's well directed and has very solid performances. But the one thing that bugs me is the dialogue. I don't mean because it's not exactly how real people talk but because all the characters sound the same. Maybe this was intential but it really bugged the crap out of me that you could shuffle the dialogue amongst the characters and nothing would seem amiss. They just didn't seem like four individuals colliding but rather one person having a four way introspection with himself.

Still, it's a really good film and more people should check it out. And Clive Owen's first scene was histerical. :lol:

Just saw this last night... I thought it was okay... the performances were good, but it was too obvious that its source was a play. I enjoyed some of the melodramatic dialogue, but it lacked that certain cinematic realism.

The film was aimed at showing love in transition and cut out all the day-to-day stuff and the moments that demonstrate their love for each other. I think this was the biggest problem really... there wasn't much to show the audience that "the juice was worth the squeeze". A film can be a bummer while showing people being happy. In fact, it can make the bummer part more effective. Showing people as being good in a relationship goes a long way towards getting the audience to give a shit about the characters when they fuck up their own lives. This film didn't have enough of that - showing the characters doing something right... only a taste - so I didn't find that I cared that much that they were emotionally retarded and had corrupt value systems.

Overall I'd give it a 6/10

Add another to OK column. I had high hopes for this. The performances were good but I didnt really care for the characters. I was thinking that they might have learned something as the film went along but they just kept repeating their mistakes.

right - and any hope I had that Jude Law's character would somehow redeem himself flew out the window when he turned into a big ***** and cried in front of Owen. At that point I was hoping all four of them would be consumed by a big fireball.

Law - cheating fuck and a sissy and a failure as a writer and human being.
Roberts - cheating fuck who didn't deserve any of the adoration she was getting.
Owen - just a prick and a pervert - somewhat of a loser, but oddly enough came out on top of the group.
Portman - fucking liar. She was cute, but so what? She's a liar and doesn't deserve to be happy.

I think one caveat of this film is you have to be able to enjoy charcter studies in which the characters are not likable at all.

Many people can't do that, and it seems to be a main reason cited for not liking films like Closer and Sideways.

One should never let personal morals get in the way when reviewing a movie.

who doesn't?

I really liked the movie, although the end with Portman's character justs seemed kinda weird. I guess it shouldn't be that surprising considering some of the things she said through out the film and what we know about it, but she actually came across as the most likable until the end (Actually Owen's character was likeable, he just had a bit odd alternate sexual tastes...)

I dont mind characters that are flawed or not always likeable but at least show me or tell me, even in a sentence, why they seem to be like that. This film didnt.
Another example of this is the Mother in Upside of Anger. Hated her too. Did they show why she treated her daughters nasty all the time. Nope.

Do the unlikable people you meet in real life tell you why they're such a**holes? No, they don't always, so i don't see why people demand that fictional characters always tie life into nice and easy bows when it's not always like that. I enjoyed "Closer" even if the characters weren't likable, and that doesn't affect my enjoyment of their story.

Excellent movie, I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Portman and Owen are top-notch.

Exactly Sierra Disc.

Some people are just assholes. There doesn't have to be a reason for it.

Closer is a study of a messed up love triangle with selfish, flawed people.

It's a study of the situation, not really of the characters, hence the lack of character development.

Though I'm certainly not ripping anyone that didn't care for it. Movies are 100% subjective and I can see why many don't like Closer.

I thought this film was amazing. Closer satisfied me in a way that few movies do. By far one of the best I've seen this year. I thought the dialogue was all incredibly poignant and effective. I could relate many of the arguments and situations to my own experiences due to the realism of the confrontations. It was undeniably clever and very funny at times, making this such an enjoyable rush of a movie. The script was very well carried by an excellent cast at their best here, I couldn't help but feel that their own feelings were in every scene.

In conclusion, I thought it was fantastic (if you hadn't already figured that out :P).