DVD--Chloe

or: Getting the wrong idea.

One word to sum it up: Strange.

Julianne Moore. Liam Neeson. Amanda Seyfried. All very good actors. Especially Julianne Moore. Putting them all together in a film would seem like one of those once-in-a-lifetime ideas which would require some really special material, right? And especially seeing as this isn't a film with a guy trying to find his identity or kicking ass, it would have to be special to get Liam Neeson hooked in, yes? That's the odd thing about Chloe. It is a strange film, and it is about as strange as it is awkward to watch. It seems Hollywood has decided to churn out more and more psychosexual thrillers by the year and the more they have, the stranger and more confused they get. Chloe is a perfect example of that.

Catherine (Julianne Moore) and David (Liam Neeson), she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have an idyllic life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine's long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort (Amanda Seyfried) to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself 'directing' Chloe's encounters with David, and Chloe's end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply.

Don't get me wrong, Chloe is an alright movie. It's premise is interesting. But unfortunately, it doesn't quite equal the sum of its parts. Everything just feels crumby and hard to get into. Like, the characters were really strange. Catherine was so unsure of herself that at her age it seemed strange. We never really learnt whether David was a good person or not. And Chloe? Well, Chloe was a whole other phenomena. The way she 'dealt with things' and was obsessed with this 'business transaction' was something that is completely possible in film, but there were all these fragments of her which were missing. Those fragments were some standard pieces of characterization, and that kinda dragged things down for me.

Atom Egoyan directs this with some eerie shots which is backed up with some echoey music that makes the film seem even more hollow, if that makes any sense. There is no denying that Egoyan has a lot of talent, but he perhaps makes this movie more 'dreamy' than it needs to be, but come to think of it, that is a nice a touch considering a great deal of what is in this movie is entirely fictional to the story. As for the performances, they are good. Amanda Seyfried really comes into her own and doesn't fall behind next to her co stars. I'm really liking the look of her future career from here on, but there's that certain part of her, especially in this movie, that won't ever see her become a serious Oscar winning sort of actress. I guess time will tell. Liam Neeson is barely in the film, due to the fact that most of it was cut out when his wife unexpectedly died while he was on set. However, when he's there, he is Liam Neeson, and that's all that matters. Julianne Moore, however, is our knight is shining armour. She is luminous in this role, and even though her character is poorly written, Moore rises above like she does in any one of her films. And this was a hard film for her to rise above on.

THE VERDICT: Being as confused as it was, Chloe feels like a missed opportunity and feels below quality.

What I hoped for:

What I got: