The biggest question one should ask in regards to this work is: how does stuff like this get made - who finances it? Although boasting an impressive cast and a script by Charlie Kaufmann, the result is a chaotic mess.
He may present us with interesting and strangely twisting scripts but somehow Kaufmann's work always leaves me less than fulfilled. Maybe it's because he lets too many thoughts come to the surface and then stray as he buries each under a morass of themes that all peter out long before the end. Work like this mostly comes across as a poor man's Preston Sturges; 'Miracle Of Morgan's Creek' it ain't.
Still, there are some moments of interest and it is intriguing to see an actress as attractive as Arquette defile her body image (including a very young Hillary Duff playing Arquette's character in flashback) so thoroughly as she does here. Yet there seems precious little insight or depth of ideology and Gondry's pop-promo directorial style helps matters little.
This is certainly a curiosity for fans of Kaufmann's writing but surely even the most die-hard admirer would have to admit to its many failings. Approach with caution.
He may present us with interesting and strangely twisting scripts but somehow Kaufmann's work always leaves me less than fulfilled. Maybe it's because he lets too many thoughts come to the surface and then stray as he buries each under a morass of themes that all peter out long before the end. Work like this mostly comes across as a poor man's Preston Sturges; 'Miracle Of Morgan's Creek' it ain't.
Still, there are some moments of interest and it is intriguing to see an actress as attractive as Arquette defile her body image (including a very young Hillary Duff playing Arquette's character in flashback) so thoroughly as she does here. Yet there seems precious little insight or depth of ideology and Gondry's pop-promo directorial style helps matters little.
This is certainly a curiosity for fans of Kaufmann's writing but surely even the most die-hard admirer would have to admit to its many failings. Approach with caution.