Closer

Review by Jason Blake

If watching photogenic couples romantically annihilate themselves is your idea of a good night out, Closer is the movie for you.

Adapted for the screen by Patrick Marber from his highly successful stage play, Closer introduces us to four people caught in a brittle, sometimes brutal ménage a quatre.

Dan (Jude Law) is an up-and-coming (as in "soon-to-be-remaindered") novelist working as an obituary writer on a London newspaper.

A traffic accident introduces him to ex-stripper Alice (Natalie Portman), a precocious waif just off the plane from New York City. Romance blooms. So far, so nice.

Of course, it can't stay that way. During a photo session for his upcoming novel's book jacket, the newly confident Dan makes a play for frosty photographer Anna (Julia Roberts).

She knows his type, but their bantering exchange sparks the beginnings of a relationship and sets in motion a romantic revenge cycle that draws in the coarsely charming, somewhat sadistic Larry (Clive Owen), and eventually engulfs them all.

What with all the bed-hopping and betrayal, Closer could easily have been played for farce but Nichols (The Graduate, Angels In America) refuses to let us find the easy way out of Marber's minefield of modern manners.

As in his lacerating film version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?", there are laughs to be had, but they're distinctly uncomfortable ones. Thanks to Marber's whiplash dialogue, the cast suffer with an eloquence that's uncommon in the movies, but that's about as far as it goes.

It's superficially interesting watching movie stars put themselves through the wringer (especially Clive Owen, who alone makes this movie worth the price of a ticket), but ultimately, Closer is too much ice, not enough fire.

3 out of 5

Closer
Australian release: Wednesday January 26th
Cast: Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen.
Director: Mike Nichols.
Website: Click here.

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