Review of Sea of Love (1989) by The M — 20 Apr 2008

Sea of Love is one of the few movies with a surprising twist at the end that is actually better with each watch. Normally, once you know the twist to a suspense movie, there's little interesting about the movie. But in the case of the Sea of Love, as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate this movie. When I first saw this movie, I was in my college years and found the movie to be a tacky "mid life crisis" movie. But now that I am at the age of Al Pacino's character in this movie, I strongly identify with the vulnerability his and Ellen Barkin's characters are going thru.

The chemistry between Pacino and Barkin is seductive, charming, very passionate, and deeply believeable.

The movie is written so that you think Ellen Barkin is the killer; but, if you watch the movie knowing that she isn't the killer, the dynamics between Pacino and Barkin sky-rockets into cinematic perfection. The romantic ending to this movie is deeply felt. The supporting characters are also fascinating too. There are lot of well known leading actors in this movie playing secondary roles. There's the "dead father" from six feet under, who plays the man who marry's Pacino's ex-wife, there's Pacino's sidekick played by the man who is Rosanne Barr's wife from the "Rosanne" show. Then, there's a very small role by Samuel Jackson. Throughout the movie, there are many light appearances that appear to be famous actor cameos when they are famous actors when they were obscure.

Pacino's performance is oscar-worthy. I really feel his character's "wash out and disillusioned with life" persona.

This is my favorite movie of all time to watch late on a Sunday night when you know you have a lot of work to do the next morning, but you just want time to slow down for a change.