Review of Closer (2004) by Arundhati S — 22 Nov 2009

Well acted, well directed and well shot, but in the end ultimately dissatisfying. Clive Owen, Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman are four people taking turns falling in and out of love with each other. However, all four characters come across as somewhat self absorbed, weak and/or humorless people. Maybe it's because we're only shown the moments of conflict in their relationship, but I didn't feel any of them were likable, desirable (besides the fact that they're all very attractive people) or easy to relate too. As a result I didn't care what happened to any of them. Clive Owen succeeds the most on giving his character any complexity or depth.

Other reviews I've read describe the film as having a "realistic" look at the complexities of love. But the film's cynicism makes it just as one-sided as a syrupy love story.