Closer (M18)

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another. Closer is Director Mike Nichols' adaptation of Patrick Marber's play. Alice/Jane (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a splendor display of various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger, sadness, vengeance, pleading, deception, and most importantly, brutal honesty.

"When you believe in love at first sight...you never stop looking." I think it's true.

2 American Gals & 2 London Boys, all tossed up in a bowl of sex, love, hate & lust salad. Riding on their good looks the 2 couples - Alice/Jane & Daniel, Anna & Larry crossover to play with fire that eventually left eternal burnt marks on them.

The script is well written, lots of lines that will set your mind thinking about your life. You've gotta pay attention to their dialogs, as they explained the time-line that's not shown as captions.

Loves & relationships are told here as an abstract painting that can't have one too many or one too little stroke. You may never understand the artist truly, if from the beginning, you only look at how pretty her painting is.

Julia Roberts is like an extra on the set when compared to the other 3. Hmm...maybe pregnancy & acting don't mix well. Clive Owen did well, especially so when facing Natalie's beaver. Jude played as though this is a sad sequel to Alfie. I think the biggest winner for Closer has to be Natalie. She is no longer the boring Amidala who delivered hair raising, mushy love statements from Star Wars but a sexy NY striper. She has shaken the crown off & I must say, that's good for her career...but there seems to be a slight image of Mathilda (Leon - The Professional) in her performance...Oh, did I mentioned that she put on a little? Bad? Nah~! It actually helped make her tities more visible.

Natalie & Clive deserved their Oscar nominations. Not good enough to win, but it's a great first step!

Director: Mike Nichols
Writer: Patrick Marber
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts

1 star for Natalie Portman, 1 for the script & 1 for Clive Owen!

*I was told that Mike Nichols kept some of Natalie's juicier scenes for himself! Damn him!!!*