Review of The Shipping News (2001) by Gemini F — 17 May 2010

When the quiet and modest Quoyle(Kevin Spacey)loses his wife in a car accident, he decides to move back to his ancestral home on Newfoundland with his daughter. As it turns out,his wife Petal(Cate Blanchett) was cheating on him,and died alongside her lover.Quoyle has a hard time accepting what's happened,but is helped in his grieving process by a new acquaintance Wavey Prowse(Julianne Moore). Slowly but surely he regains a measure of self-respect, and hope for the future.

For such a star studded cast(Spacey,Moore,Blanchett,Judi Dench,Pete Postlethwaite)I must say this was a real disappointment.I've got nothing against contemplative slow moving films,but this borders on ridiculous.Its one of the dullest movies I've ever seen.

To Kevin Spacey's credit, he plays his character well.A man with no charm,or will to change things around for himself. But it can't be positive that I wanted to beat him repeatedly to get some sort of life sign from him.Seemed to me the character would have been better suited to walk among the living dead in some Zombie movie.