This movie had potential, but the script could have used some significant re-writes to better develop the characters (and at 81 minutes, there was more than enough time available). The finished product made me feel nothing but contempt for Laura Linney's character. She came off as heartless, self-indulgent and duplicitous. Oh, and given she was dying of cancer for all those months, why didn't she find a few seconds between chemo treatments to go to her laptop and delete the 'Love' folder? She could have spared her husband the misery of finding out what an unfaithful wife she had been, but then there would be no story. It would have made more sense that the folder was still on her hard drive after her death if she had been suddenly killed in an accident. There's another potential re-write.
Also, the scene in the fancy apartment was out of sequence and made no sense after Banderas had already been exposed as a fraud earlier as Liam Neeson had seen him in his janitor uniform, playing with the baby tortoise.
As for Liam Neeson, his role started out strong, as his initial reaction was reasonably consistent with what one would expect from a man upon finding out his wife had been cheating on him. Perhaps it was even over the top, as he asked his security guard how to get a gun. But then the his character performed an unrealistic about face, and the movie really lost me as he devolved into a beta male wimp, particularly near the end of the movie when he told his daughter that Ralph, the fraud and loser janitor who nailed his wife, was wonderful. This bizarre plot twist may seem like a stroke of brilliance to some viewers who wanted to see the character's sensitive side or whatever, but to me it just seemed schizophrenic and made me have less sympathy for the protagonist as a result.
And the scenes with the daughter and her dopey husband are not a very interesting or compelling part of the story. She seemed like a walking cliché of the annoying, spoiled brat, and her doofus husband contributed nothing beyond the coffee he fetched at the end of the movie.
I read in one of the other reviews that Liam Neeson had initially thought that he wasn't the right actor for the role. Bingo. He should have rejected the project, as it is at odds with his typical role as an alpha male hero.
Also, the scene in the fancy apartment was out of sequence and made no sense after Banderas had already been exposed as a fraud earlier as Liam Neeson had seen him in his janitor uniform, playing with the baby tortoise.
As for Liam Neeson, his role started out strong, as his initial reaction was reasonably consistent with what one would expect from a man upon finding out his wife had been cheating on him. Perhaps it was even over the top, as he asked his security guard how to get a gun. But then the his character performed an unrealistic about face, and the movie really lost me as he devolved into a beta male wimp, particularly near the end of the movie when he told his daughter that Ralph, the fraud and loser janitor who nailed his wife, was wonderful. This bizarre plot twist may seem like a stroke of brilliance to some viewers who wanted to see the character's sensitive side or whatever, but to me it just seemed schizophrenic and made me have less sympathy for the protagonist as a result.
And the scenes with the daughter and her dopey husband are not a very interesting or compelling part of the story. She seemed like a walking cliché of the annoying, spoiled brat, and her doofus husband contributed nothing beyond the coffee he fetched at the end of the movie.
I read in one of the other reviews that Liam Neeson had initially thought that he wasn't the right actor for the role. Bingo. He should have rejected the project, as it is at odds with his typical role as an alpha male hero.