Fri., Jul. 2, 2004 12:00 AM PDT
The Clearing would've benefited from a little bit of cleanup. After happily married multimillionaire
Robert Redford is kidnapped by
Willem Dafoe, two plots (and two movies, almost) unravel. Dafoe takes Redford on a trip to an undisclosed location where something ominous is supposed to happen, but kidnapper and hostage seem to become pals on the way there.
And, Redford's wife
Helen Mirren, at home with her kids and the FBI, is willing to do anything to get her husband back--even though there isn't a real sense of urgency. First-time director Pieter Jan Brugge seems unsure of whether he's making an action-oriented drama about a kidnapped man or an
Ordinary People-esque film about a family unraveling. Thus, the A-list actors get lost. It's a worthy effort, but by trying to do it all, both stories fail to offer a good payoff.
0 Comments
Now loading...