Review of Two Lovers (2008) by Klei R — 07 Jul 2009

Ugh... The people in this movie are hard to root for - at least the main characters are. Both of them are indescribably frustrating. Half of the movie you want to shake them and pull a Cher from Moonstruck and slap them in the face and tell them to "Snap out of it".

This, I guess, is supposed to be Joaquin Phoenix's last movie ever. He's not a bad actor, but he seems a little off center, so who knows if the previous sentence is true. If it is his last movie, it's not bad. He plays a (I think) bipolar guy that moves back in with his parents after his engagement gets called off. He's in a bad way. As the title suggests, over the course of the movie, he has two lovers. I'm not sure what they see in him. Most bipolar people I know are sometimes hard to be around, and only sometimes charming. Joaquin does not seem to have those problems.

One thing I wish they had (and more movies had) is Isabella Rossellini. I'm not sure why, but she seems to be the coolest person in the room in every scene. People should cast her more often.

Anyway, there's two lovers, but really there isn't one instant in this movie where two people love each other at the same time. Even the ending, although makes sense, you know is not headed for anything good. To be honest, I think the Leonard character (Phoenix) and the Michelle character (Paltrow) are more or less doomed in their relationships at the end of this movie.

It's certainly not an upbeat movie, but it's not a tear jerker or anything like that. It's just an interesting story about a few flawed people.