Review of Powder Blue (2009) by Dave H — 04 Jan 2010

Despair, Desperation, Desolation, Demise.

Desertion, Destruction, Demented, Drive.

This movie was a total let down. I heard it was garbage but I needed to see for myself. After all was said and done it was quite a waste of time. I tried hard to find positives but there aren't many at all. The acting is mediocre at best. I have a feeling that was partly the writers and directors fault. The story was so choppy I had no idea what was going on until 45 minutes into and I was only grabbing at straws. I felt no connection with the characters or the plot.

When it begins it jumps directly into the lives of 4 completely different people from totally different backgrounds. Jessica Biel plays a single mother with a son in a coma who works as a stripper at night to try to cover the bills. There she meets Ray Liotta a newly released ex-con looking for forgiveness before he dies. He confides in her feeling she is only one who he can connect with. They throw in a distraught Forest Whitaker who has lost his wife in a car accident desperate to take his life. He tries anything including money to get someone else to relieve him from his pain so he may go to see his wife in heaven. I couldn't understand why he was even in the story at all he did not contribute to the main plot-line nearly at all that I could see. To top it all off we have Eddie Redmayne a lonely morgue worker in search of companionship. Between all of them they must try to work inconspicuously and independently to help each other get through their misfortunes. Why they turned it into a romance at the end is a mystery to me. The ending felt forced, lacking of emotion, and incomplete.

Now there is an upside to this mess. I have to give it to the casting crew they worked their magic and got Jessica Biel. She may not be Megan Fox but her 27 year old body is fabulous and her acting was decent also. This may well be the only reason I gave this one a chance. I heard she is scantly clad through out a good portion of the film. Then to top it off she has two topless scenes. Yummy. Besides her I enjoy Forest but I am starting to lose faith in his movie decisions. He has been producing some sloppy films although I liked American gun which he played in and produced. Ray is another actor I enjoy but again this movie just wasn't written for a good cast. This movie reminded me of fragments (Winged Creatures)another Whitaker film. which was another jumbled mess that was hard to follow and understand. There was many things they could have done to fix this. One was give to me some background. They jumped around so much I couldn't feel any real connection. I also didn't understand anything until more than half way through. If you want the audience to understand why the characters are doing what they are doing tell us early or well frustrated thinking they are making the wrong decisions.

After it was all said and done I felt dirty and and a little distraught but not at all entertained. Don't watch this film unless you would like to see Jessica nude. That's why I watched and it may have been the only upside.