Watch the first fifteen minutes for Stockard Channing's subtle but amazing portrayal of a woman alone at the top and afraid of tumbling; strong and intelligent but uncertain of her choices and seemingly alone in the world but for her therapist, secretary, and other employees, she cannot tell success from disaster. Clever editing keeps us in the dark, too, and her promotion is at first easily mistaken for a lover's rupture. The pleasure of her good fortune is soured when we realise that she has no lover, just a job.
The quality of the plot plummets inexplicably with the arrival of Julia Stiles' character, and the quality of the acting plummets just as violently with the arrival of Julia Stiles. It's not entirely her fault: she gets nothing but ridiculous lines. The story that ensues is a betrayal of the movie's first quarter-hour: there is no real story to speak of, just a series of picaresque moments, and the gentle but invasive probing of character that was promised is dismissed in favour of a meaningless attack on someone's life. Murder, especially of the wanton variety, is the thing Hollywood uses to give a film a sense of intellectual depth when it has none; ironically, it is fast becoming the thing independents use when they are scared of being thought dull and overly-intellectual. Sadly, it didn't improve this film.
The quality of the plot plummets inexplicably with the arrival of Julia Stiles' character, and the quality of the acting plummets just as violently with the arrival of Julia Stiles. It's not entirely her fault: she gets nothing but ridiculous lines. The story that ensues is a betrayal of the movie's first quarter-hour: there is no real story to speak of, just a series of picaresque moments, and the gentle but invasive probing of character that was promised is dismissed in favour of a meaningless attack on someone's life. Murder, especially of the wanton variety, is the thing Hollywood uses to give a film a sense of intellectual depth when it has none; ironically, it is fast becoming the thing independents use when they are scared of being thought dull and overly-intellectual. Sadly, it didn't improve this film.