Review of My Blueberry Nights (2007) by Blake P — 13 Jul 2012

Elizabeth (Jones) has recently been dumped, and decides that instead of staying in boring old New York, she should travel around the country. Along her trip she meets hard drinking cop Arnie (Strathairn) and his trashy, cheating wife Sue Lynne (Weisz) in Tennessee.

She then travels onto Nevada, and meets young gambler Leslie (Portman), and they have a short friendship. But the trip proves to be somewhat hard for Elizabeth, because she misses a friend (Law) she made after breaking up with her past boyfriend.

"My Blueberry Nights" is to me, the definition of what I call a "nothing" film. It's not a good movie nor it is a bad movie, it's not exciting nor is it boring ... you get what I mean? Wong Kar-Wai is by far my favorite Asian director, and I watched this film due to the fact it's his English debut.

I can say that I was more than disappointed. There isn't anything seriously wrong with the film-- except that it's in English. Had this been made ten years earlier with let's say, Maggie Cheung in the lead, this could've been classic.

Instead, it settles for forgettable art house. The film's main problem is the acting, for sure. Casting Nora Jones was a huge mistake-- she's not a bad actress, but is so uninteresting on screen that her character isn't appealing-- and pales in comparison with the excellent supporting cast.

Weisz, Portman, and Strathairn all probably give one of their top five best performances here, and it's a shame that all of them maybe get a total time of fifteen minutes on screen, while we're stuck with a lifeless Jones limping her way through.

But there's still aspects in the film that scream Kar-Wai-- the visual style, the scene with Sue Lynne after her husband's demise, and that now infamous kissing scene at the end. Let's face it though-- bits of Kar-Wai isn't as good as all Kar-Wai.

"My Blueberry Nights" is decent enough art house, but is certainly not up to its director's other features.