You’re doing what to whose face?
Vanilla Sky hits the snooze bar once too often
REVIEW
VANILLA SKY
Starring Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz
Written and directed by Cameron Crowe
Not the face! Not the face! After all, what do you have if you don’t have his outstanding dimples? His rakish grin? His twinkling eyes?
Well, I guess you either have Born on the Fourth of July or Vanilla Sky, each a film that sets up Tom Cruise as the All-American winner crushed by physical and mental disaster. But rather than the straightforward tale of a Vietnam vet ruined by war, we have a daddy’s boy who has had everything given to him, knows how to play the world like his violin, and gets in trouble when his reckless ways bite him in the ass. Cameron Diaz plays the ass-biter – skilfully.
When you’re rich, life is but a dream. Or is it? After he meets Sophia (Penélope Cruz), the woman who is the girl of his dreams, all kinds of real and imagined enemies start to torment young David (Cruise). Now we set off down the "Omigod! What’s happening to me?!" road for what seems to be a very long time. Lots of red herrings flop around up there on the screen along with some real clues as to what is really happening (including some very Total Recall-esque cues).
Cruise plays both sides of happy-go-lucky playboy and deranged victim aptly, and Cruz looks like she might really be in love with the crazy kid. She playfully snaps the one-liners, like a towel at Cruise’s butt.
Overall, Vanilla Sky isn’t particularly satisfying, but it’s fine. Twenty minutes shorter would have made it a hell of a lot finer, but you tell Mr. Cruise you’re going to cut his "dancin’ with my horrible self" scene. |
