Rating of
3/4
Closer (2004)
MovieAddict - wrote on 01/23/12
I guess many people wouldn’t like this movie because of its sexual explicitness and the disturbing lack of romance by those engaged in such interludes but I thought it was a very true, down to earth and gritty take on reality. The current state of your love life may determine your eventual perception. Regardless, I hope you find both this review and the movie a worthwhile event. This is not your typical romantic movie and some of the dialogue is very crude. So be warned!!
Closer is an uncompromising look at that great big messy thing we call love and tells a story of betrayal, attraction and sex. The cast is amazing and the characters are shockingly deceptive and manipulative. I don't like Julia Roberts that much except for Pretty Woman and Sleeping with the Enemy, but she gets her job done beautifully despite being outshone in every scene by the other actors. Jude Law is great. But Clive Owen and Natalie Portman were breath taking. Clive Owen as the rude Larry, who despite his manners is the character I liked the best, because he's the most honest one.
Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who is recently divorced. She is hired to take Dan's (the gorgeous Jude Law) photograph for a book jacket. Dan is a journalist by trade who writes obituaries. The photo however is for his book that has a chance at being published and inspired by Dan's current flame, waitress/stripper Alice (Natalie Portman) a girl who never lets you get too close to the person inside. Dan has a crush on Anna, and regardless of his relationship with Alice, he tries to seduce Anna. Posing as Anna, he engages in an online sex chat with Dr. Larry (the charismatic Clive Owen), and even arranges a date for them. But the joke is on him after the two meet accidentally and hit it off. Time flies by and the four keeps running to each other. There is a lot of deceiving, infidelity, passion and regret. The ending is so mind blowing it'll haunt you a long time after seeing the film!
This is a sad film in the end, but it is also one of the most adult films ever to be made. After all, stories of Princesses and frogs are really for children, aren't they?
