One of the worst movies I've ever seen

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

What is this movie supposed to be? A murder mystery? Probably not. Not too much attention is paid to the mystery and the solution is lame, almost thrown away. Existential? We do see a lot of the victim's nude body and her dead face. Creepy and unnecessary. Is the film meant to tell us about the adventures of a bright female writer uncovering secrets? Nope. The female lead character is kind of dumb (but beautiful, of course), and the "secrets" are not very compelling. The unraveling of these tepid secrets takes time and is confusing with too many flashbacks into different eras and places, all of which look the same. Thus, it is too hard to follow to allow viewer involvement in the plot.This movie reminded me of the soft-core porn movies shown on late night cable or satellite TV. This is different in that the performances are that of skilled professionals. Great sets! Great music! But the enterprise seemed to have the same purpose as the soft-core throwaways: an excuse to show woman's bodies and simulated sex.

A comedy team has made it big and while at the pinnacle of their success a dead woman's body is found in their suite. Although both of them seem to have adequate alibis there is something about the story that doesn't quite add up and hovers over them for the rest of their careers. Meanwhile, many years later, a journalist decides to write a book about them and gradually uncovers clues which the entertainers had hoped to keep secret. A couple of criticisms I have with it concerned the narratives of the events which seemed to take some of the surprise out of the film since everyones knows that a particular person will survive whatever happens. Another criticism is that I felt I was watching a cheap and tawdry parody of the comedy team of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. They were made to look bad enough as it was but I felt the director (Atom Egoyan) went too far when he threw in a graphic homosexual scene where Colin Furth ("Vince") tries to mount Kevin Bacon ("Lanny"). Same thing with the sex scene involving "Karen" (Alison Lohman) and "Bonnie" (Sonja Bennett). At one time directors were talented enough to get the audience to use their imagination without having to resort to such sordid tactics. No doubt some folks might think it's important or erotic but I didn't care for it. Neither did I particularly care for seeing Kevin Bacon's buttocks. But again, I guess the director felt it was necessary for some odd reason. Be that as it may, while I thought the acting was adequate overall, this was a film made more remarkable by the story itself rather than any overwhelming performance by any of the actors involved. In short, I would say this movie was about average but could have been much better if it had been directed differently.

Here's the 30-second pitch: Egoyan tries to do David Lynch doing Raymond Chandler, falls flat on face. Bacon and Firth are excellent, Lohman is terrible, the worst miscasting I've seen for decades. The plot is incomprehensible not because of complexity but rotten editing. The sex is good, and the lobsters deliver.With a better screenplay it could have been a great film in the class of LA Confidential, The Big Sleep or Mulholland Drive - that it fails so comprehensively must cast doubt on Egoyan's ability as a director, since the cast (apart from Alison Lohman) deliver really good performances, and it looks fabulous throughout. It feels to me as if Egoyan's avant-garde past prevented him from engaging with the requirements of a whodunnit plot. I was so confused that I had to look up the plot on my smartphone even while watching the movie, something that I've never, ever done before. That's how much I wanted to like it.

Actors, atmosphere, music, set, everything was on an extremely high level. Especially the witty conversations have been fun to listen to. Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth have been very convincing in their role. I can't imagine a better cast.The one thing that really spoiled the fun for me, has been the story. I like mystery stories, but none that overdo it with the mystery, and no longer make sense. The whole story was so absurd, that all the pretty conversations, lost their emotional weight, and simply went down the drain. Knowing the absurd ending, would make a second view only worse. Too bad, this could have been so much better.