UnAmerican
George Clooney is a fine actor who supposedly has an eagle eye for good material. Apparently, he’s suffering from astigmatism at the moment.
“Up In The Air” was a light, foolish piece that was barely funny, inaccurate, and predictable. But “The American” makes it look like “Citizen Kane.” This new film is sooooooo slooooooooow that you begin to think it’s being run in claymation. The story line is stereotypical (hired assassin reporting to shady figure), the tension is completely absent, and Clooney is doing the equivalent of Ravel with Bolero: variations on a single theme. It is a monotone performance, not 3-D, but 1-D.
Even the normal beauty of the Italian countryside seems black and white and barren. The director has bored the environs.
Even the breathtaking Violante Placido, who spends a great deal of time shedding her clothing, can’t save this debacle. (She is a prostitute who is gorgeous, well spoken, and very classy.) Clooney is afraid she is going to kill him. Get in line.
The point of this mess is that you’re supposed to figure out who, exactly, is trying to kill Clooney, which is so obvious that you want to run up there and kill him yourself just to speed things along. This film is drawing four stars out of five on a lot of web reviews. What would be a single star, “Plan Nine from Outer Space”? At least that moved along at a decent pace.
My rating: Go see it only if it will enable you to avoid a root canal. But that’s a close call.
No stars, just a foggy night.
© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.
Alan Weiss
Well, that’s honest! You’ll love historical war movies and biographies, then!
Dennis Snow
Your review also serves as an accurate review of the book. Thanks for saving me from hoping they made the movie more engaging than the book.
Alan Weiss
I didn’t read the book, but I’d have to think the reader’s imagination would be a better alternative than the director’s choices!! The ending was truly ridiculous.
Daniel Rose
To a certain extent you’re right. Perhaps I read it with the movie in mind, so I had some preconceived ideas, but the book seemed a little bit light on in areas – I still enjoyed it though. I usually don’t read fiction.
Daniel Rose
Haven’t seen “The American”, but I quite liked “Up In The Air” – more so than the original novel by Walter Kirn. You’re entirely right about it being predictable, but that’s my favourite type of movie!
Alan Weiss
I’ve probably read close to 1500 novels. I get most of my good ideas from them, and a great deal of my learning.
Peter McLean
Having studied and been trained in psychology, leadership, communication, education, business, etc. and studied science, sociology, theology, history, literature AND having been an English and Media teacher once upon a time, I’d have to agree that fiction can contribute far greater weight, understanding and innovation than most people give it credit for.
A professor of developmental psych I once studied with at the University of Western Ontario said to me how after a lifetime of being a psychologist (in his mid-to-late 50s at the time), he was finally discovering literature and how much more insight it had than a lot of the psych research he’d studied and worked on over the years. At the very least, well-written fiction offers an in-depth personal perspective on life.
On the other hand, there are plenty of lit professors, teachers and fiction writers/readers who really don’t have a clue and ought to read or do something else for a change. . . .
(By the way, Alan, I must thank you for the recommendations I’ve read elsewhere on your blog for the Aubrey-Maturin novels. My wife and I are both “fighting” over who gets to read Master and Commander.)
Alan Weiss
It takes intellect to read and appreciate good fiction. Cliff Notes don’t help. Turns out that I’ve written more books than some people have read!