Review of Sorry, Haters (2005) by Seth R — 23 Sep 2009

I want to like this confused movie, and there is a lot to like out about it, especially the compelling performances by Robin Wright Penn and Abdel Kechiche. It's a post-9/11 New York City nightmare scenario that sometimes seems to be about 9/11 and other times seems to have nothing to do with it really at all, other than using its sociocultural import to lend gravitas to a story that perhaps without it has none.

But writer-director Jeff Stanzler was onto something in this story about a woman who is like a human black hole, no there there other than what she can suck in from others around her. The fact that it's RWP, and that we can't take our eyes off her for marveling at the subtle idiosyncracies of her performance, the hints she gives that's there more -- or less -- there than meets the eye, just makes it more enjoyable to watch, if a little more difficult to believe.

In the end, Stanzler is saying something important about the life of the individual in the time of the global village, but it already seems somewhat dated.