Someone once said that it is impossible to extract a good film out of a bad script. Well, I believe this is one of the exceptions to that rule. The script is really very weak, beginning with the absurd situation of Kenneth Branagh telling the story to Robert Loggia when it was Loggia who witnessed the initial facts, Branagh not being present. Besides there are several "intellectual" dialogues, including a Virginia Wolf citation, that are said on the most improbable occasions, as on the second encounter between Madeleine Stowe and Neil Patrick Harris. Notwithstanding this, the direction manages to hold a firm grip on the proceedings throughout the whole film, avoiding it falling into ridiculousness. Most of all, the whole cast led by William Hurt and Kenneth Branagh imbue their characters with such a high degree of dignity and seriousness that makes us think of one of those good Bette Davis vehicles.
Review of The Proposition
