Review: Simpatico (1999) By: Matt Petras
Rating: *1/2 out of **** Length: 106 minutes
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Nick Notle, Sharon Stone, Catherine Keener Director: Matthew Warchus Producer(s): Jean-François Fonlupt, Dan Lupovitz, Timm Oberwelland
An affluent horse breeder's past comes up to haunt him; an ages old cover-up and blackmail comes back to haunt him at the hands of one of his accomplices. That's pretty much the essence of the movie and I have to say that it becomes quite boring at times and is very slow. That aside the story was well presented and probably quite close and representative of its source. The acting in particular I found very good, the character development was also quite interesting but alas the story simply did not hold my interest enough for me to get into the movie. A few things about the story didn't sit very well with me for example the original scam and cover-up heavily involved the character played by Sharon Stone, yet in the end her character played a relatively small role and it seems she should have been utilized more to further the story along better. On the flip side the character played by Catherine Keener I found to be very interesting and I thought that it was developed very well and helped the story a lot. The character's aside this movie had some interesting merits but in the end it lacked in story and pacing.
As far as the acting and casting for this movie is concerned I have to say that the choices of Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were great as well as that of Catherine Keener. All these people acted their parts admirably, as for the part that Sharon Stone played, she played it well but the part was not utilized enough.
The directing for this movie is something that I have to comment on because for once in a long while you see a director actually add a very distinctive flavor to a movie, this is one of those occasions. Matthew Warchus in my opinion added an interesting touch and spin to the movie and I think he tackled a touch subject (I myself wouldn't be able to look at horseracing and make a movie out of it). There is a certain flavor about this movie and I think that the direction of the movie is the reason for this. The one flaw that I do have to comment on is the pacing, the subject matter in my opinion wasn't interesting enough on its own to have this kind of flavoring and directorial touch about it. I certainly hope that the director makes more movies as this does show promise even if I myself don't like it.
All in all I found this movie boring and very slow, the acting was good but the story just didn't evolve enough and wasn't captivating enough to make Simpatico an enjoyable movie to watch. Although there is much going for the movie I didn't find it good even though I see the merits and style used and can compliment the movie on them. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone but if you are a horse fanatic or a racing fanatic then you will most likely enjoy this movie.
February 27, 2000 For any comments I can be reached at bootsector@hotmail.com
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