And there will be SPOILERS
Well, there will be-not because I want to tell you the ending- but because you will know what to expect from the movie.
The Plot
Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore) is going through a very problematic and lonely time in her life: Her husband D avid (Liam Neeson) seems to be evasive, negligent and overly flirting with other women. Well, younger and beautiful women, to be exact. To top this, her son Michael (Max Thieriot) seems to despise her and is a lot closer to his father.
At this particular juncture in her life, she runs into a very beautiful young woman named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). Chloe is an expensive hooker/escort who Catherine used to see with different men from her office window. Yeah, Catherine is an expensive gynecologist with a big office and an amazing house and they hang out in the same neighborhoods.
Anyway, one day, a desperate Catherine gets to meet Chloe. And no longer able to stand the suspicions about her husband, she hires Chloe to see if she can seduce her husband. She does, as expected, and reports back to Catherine.
Now, of course, this is the point where you expect any woman to do one of the following:
– To confront David and to either forgive or dump him.
– Or not confront him and just deal with it on her own.
– Or maybe have a little affair of her own out of spite/revenge.
I am guessing, however, you don’t expect her to be turned on by Chloe’s storytelling about how she slept with her husband and you definitely don’t expect Catherine to sleep with Chloe.
OK, I am guessing, some of the men would expect or at least want Chloe and Catherine to get together. So to satisfy your curiousity, there is a sex scene with nudity. And it doesn’t involve Liam Neeson.
Having gotten that out of the way, the movie takes a turn where Chloe is obsessed with Catherine. Maybe she was from the beginning, but it becomes much more apparent. She would be more than willing to be her girlfriend. Of course Catherine wants none of that. So Chloe goes after the son. Why not the husband, if he enjoyed the affair as much as she described? Maybe because he never slept with her in the first place and all the scenes Chloe described were nothing more than detailed storytelling?
I will admit that the movie is not exactly boring. However, the writing doesn’t really flow naturally. Sure, it is an original twist, compared to other “fatal attraction” sort of movies where the woman had an actual affair with the man and then threatened the whole family because she wanted the man. Herevwe have a girl who wanted the woman. And she was never really a violent threat, but an obsessed and emotional one who did everything to get closer to Catherine, rather than destroy her.
But how is it supposed to make sense that a woman who has been heterosexual all her life, depressed about her son and husband, will hire a prostitute to prove he is cheating and then accept her words as proof? So you don’t believe your husband? Fine, hire a P.I. Because P.I.s aren’t paid to tell stories. They are paid to show proof: video, photographs…You know, actual proof.
And why would you send the hooker to seduce him? There is a big chance that she could want him for herself. He is handsome, well-off and well, nice! So let’s say that you are so desperate, you don’t think naturally and you did hire her. And you believed her. When did you decide to sleep with her???
I know writing a good screenplay is difficult. And while this one makes an OK job for the most part, some things just don’t really add up. How stupid can a woman be? So she slept with her. Wasn’t she supposed to wake up about how obsessed Chloe was when she didn’t want money or wanted to give her hairpin that was given to her by her mother…How twisted is that?
Oh- and then there is the scene where she does prove to herself, unexpectedly, that in fact her husband never cheated. He was so hurt and disappointed. Do you think he would have forgiven her so easily if she had slept with a man? Oh, you might see the ending coming. But you may or may not see the final scene coming. I am wondering whether you would say “Great job” or “Come on!!! You have got to be kidding me!”
While the director is a man (Atom Egoyan), I am surprised to see that the screenwriters are women. It might be old-fashioned of me but I find everything in the movie very hard to relate to, as a woman. I also find it hardly believable that Liam Neeson’s character would actually say no to all women, even though they weren’t really having sex anymore and his gorgeous female students were probably coming on to him. I am not just buying that. Call me a cynic.
I do, however, have to admit that this movie is much more intriguing than the last love triangle movie I saw Liam Neeson in. That time he wasn’t suspected of cheating or wasn’t flirting with anyone. He was being cheated on by his beloved wife who was cheating on him with Antonio Banderas’ character. The movie was called The Other Man.
I think I should give this movie a 6, that is the highest rating I can give. It had its moments and it certainly had flaws. Tell me you didn’t see Liam wasn’t cheating the moment we weren’t given actual scenes but just story telling from Chloe?
If you like dramas/thrillers, twisted characters with the most irrational behavior and the actors, see it. It is a 6.6 on IMDB.
Other Posts on Liam Neeson
Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom, Neeson, Eva Green
Seraphim Falls starring Neeson and Pierce Brosnan
The Other Man starring Neeson and Banderas
