I can not help but wonder if many viewers are biased by the fact that this is a Roman Polanski film. In my opinion, it was sophomoric in its execution. Really quite terrible... and I am not generally a harsh critic of movies. The story line had so much potential, but the execution failed. Here are my criticisms:
(1) Ewan McGregor's character is completely unbelievable. It is unconvincing that an ordinary guy/ghost writer would take up the task of solving a high-profile, super-secret murder within the course of 3 days that he has been working with the Prime Minister. And not only is that premise hard to believe, the lines he delivers and actions he takes are so ridiculous. He naively trusts everyone (the PM's wife, the Paul Emmett professor, the PM's enemy Rycart) despite the fact that his predecessor was suspiciously murdered... carelessly sharing the secret photos (badly photo-shopped, btw) and incriminating evidence, even though he is being chased by unknown "bad guys". The writing and acting makes his character completely unbelievable.
(2) There are two primary sub-plots (the PM's war crimes charges and the CIA connection), but the stories are not effectively woven together or fleshed out... and neither are made very intriguing or compelling. I left the film thinking, "OK, so I understand the CIA connection now... but how is that actually intriguing? And does it have anything do to with the war crimes plot line? Was the war crimes thing just completely irrelevant?"
(3) Some of the writing is so dumb and careless. For example: The Ghost Writer discovers the supposedly top-secret CIA connection to Paul Emmett simply by Googling it.... unreal! The bedroom scene with the Ghost Writer and PM's wife, and their relationship after 2 days of being together... unbelievable! Also, the Ghost Writer solves the mystery within the text of the book by simply connecting the first word used in each of the first few chapters... so unimaginative! And then he passes a note to the PM's wife at the public book launch with the secret discovery (with Paul Emmett at her side, who has claimed all along not to know the PM)... seriously?! And at the end when Ghost Writer gets hit by the car, since it seems that the CIA had a car waiting exactly for that purpose (despite the fact it was a complete shock that he figures out the secret)... so stupid!
I really wanted to like this film and it started out good, but quickly went downhill... and seemed to pick up bad momentum all the way to until the end. I wish I knew how so many positive reviews have been written. I am baffled.
(1) Ewan McGregor's character is completely unbelievable. It is unconvincing that an ordinary guy/ghost writer would take up the task of solving a high-profile, super-secret murder within the course of 3 days that he has been working with the Prime Minister. And not only is that premise hard to believe, the lines he delivers and actions he takes are so ridiculous. He naively trusts everyone (the PM's wife, the Paul Emmett professor, the PM's enemy Rycart) despite the fact that his predecessor was suspiciously murdered... carelessly sharing the secret photos (badly photo-shopped, btw) and incriminating evidence, even though he is being chased by unknown "bad guys". The writing and acting makes his character completely unbelievable.
(2) There are two primary sub-plots (the PM's war crimes charges and the CIA connection), but the stories are not effectively woven together or fleshed out... and neither are made very intriguing or compelling. I left the film thinking, "OK, so I understand the CIA connection now... but how is that actually intriguing? And does it have anything do to with the war crimes plot line? Was the war crimes thing just completely irrelevant?"
(3) Some of the writing is so dumb and careless. For example: The Ghost Writer discovers the supposedly top-secret CIA connection to Paul Emmett simply by Googling it.... unreal! The bedroom scene with the Ghost Writer and PM's wife, and their relationship after 2 days of being together... unbelievable! Also, the Ghost Writer solves the mystery within the text of the book by simply connecting the first word used in each of the first few chapters... so unimaginative! And then he passes a note to the PM's wife at the public book launch with the secret discovery (with Paul Emmett at her side, who has claimed all along not to know the PM)... seriously?! And at the end when Ghost Writer gets hit by the car, since it seems that the CIA had a car waiting exactly for that purpose (despite the fact it was a complete shock that he figures out the secret)... so stupid!
I really wanted to like this film and it started out good, but quickly went downhill... and seemed to pick up bad momentum all the way to until the end. I wish I knew how so many positive reviews have been written. I am baffled.