When I saw this movie, I had rented it for two reasons -- one, because Harvey Keitel is a good actor, and Kate Winslet seems to be at least decent; two -- because it was implied by the back of the video box that Kate Winslet might get naked. ***maybe sort of a spoiler coming up*** Well, the movie started off okay. The story meandered just slightly, but I was still interested. Kate Winslet's character was getting into this Indian religious leader, and I was curious where they were going with that -- and that's good, I should be curious. The problems didn't start there. Harvey Keitel's character was very cool, slightly mysterious, maybe a little creepy, but cool. The problems were not there. Then, approximately halfway through the movie, all of a sudden everything changes. The story they had been building is thrown out completely (and never really resolved), Kate Winslet gets completely darker and more...well, more of a b!#ch. But Harvey Keitel is even worse! At least Kate Winslet's character stayed near the same ball park as before, but Keitel became this raving lunatic, who in no way resembled his character from the first half of the movie. And to top it all off, Kate Winslet did get naked, but I -- being a heterosexual male -- was surprised when I couldn't even enjoy it. Kate Winslet is a beautiful girl, but it was so cheap and dirty, it was not even enjoyable. It reminded me of Showgirls for that reason. Suffice it to say, that considering the two main actors, and the fact that the story premise was good -- this should have been a MUCH better movie if a BABOON were directing it, much more so with an Academy Award nominee. Instead, it became the worst movie I have ever rented -- and I rented "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever", "barbershop", and "Money Train". Dissapointment would not begin to describe...
Review of Holy Smoke
