Review of In the Cut (2003) by Cari M — 12 Feb 2004

For me, Meg Ryan has always epitomized the ?girl next door? image. Sweet, perky Meg with the tousled hair and radiant smile, an all-American girl you?d be proud to bring home to Mama. Ryan sheds that persona, along with her clothes, in her latest DVD release In The Cut.

Filled with graphic language and sex scenes that would easily earn this film an NC-17, Ryan successfully swings to the opposite end of the ?good-girl? spectrum in a film that is ultimately disappointing.

Adapted and directed by The Piano?s Jane Campion, In The Cut is a predictable thriller wherein the murder mystery angle feels secondary to the sex scenes between Ryan and co-star Mark Ruffalo. Ryan is Francis Avery, a bored, lonely English teacher whose lifestyle is only slightly less dysfunctional than her half-sister Pauline (a disheveled and fleshy Jennifer Jason Leigh), who lives above a strip-club and is involved with a married doctor.

Our mystery begins when Franny meets a student in a local bar for a tutoring session. She stumbles upon a man being ?serviced? in the establishment?s basement and stays to watch. Her only clue to the man?s identity is a distinctive tattoo on his wrist.

When a body part belonging to the woman turns up in Franny?s garden, rough-around-the ?edges detective Giovanni Malloy shows up to question her. Malloy has a tattoo just like the one belonging to the mystery basement man but, despite her suspicions that Malloy could be the killer, Franny throws herself into a torrid affair with him.

Also figuring into the mystery is Franny?s Gacy obsessed student, Cornelius and a nutty ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon) who can?t let go. When the killer strikes close to home, it?s up to Franny to figure out whom she can trust.

Despite attempts to throw the viewer off track, the killer?s identity is actually revealed early on and we?re relegated to the role of voyeur as the film limps along to an anti-climactic conclusion. Ryan is totally out of her element here and is just short of awful.

Ruffalo delivers a suitably gritty performance as the detective with a greasy edge and is easily the films most interesting character. In The Cut is an unfulfilling film that attempts erotic thrills with flaccid results.