Review of Girlfriend Experience (2008) by Scott C — 11 Nov 2009

There were very few films this year that I wanted to see and intended to like as much The Girlfriend Experience, maverick director Steven Soderbergh's latest experiment. Oh how I wanted to be the snob that told you this was brilliant and The Hurt Locker was pedestrian filler! The Girlfriend Experience is built entirely around conversations.

The subjects range from the economic slump (with its references of the Obama-McCain debates, the bank bailout, and the much buzzed about documentary Man On Wire, this movie is very much in the moment) to sex and commitment.

It's a defiantly weird, out-there approach but the lack of incident grows tiring and the banal nature of most of the dialogue is puzzling (many of the talks are aimless and filmed in highly impersonal long shots).

Shouldn't one of these characters say something revelatory? Three years ago Soderbergh did a similarly unconventional film, Bubble. That was a remarkable and engrossing picture and much worthier of your time than this self-important contempo-art babble.