Vanilla Sky

I love it when a director attempts to deviate from his normal film making style. It's partially why I like films like A.I. Artificial Intelligence so much. But where A.I. was an example of altering one's style while retaining much of the splendor of the director's original work, Vanilla Sky, painfully, is not. I hold Cameron Crowe in a very high esteem. Indeed, I think several of his films are some of the most enjoyable works of cinema to be released in the past half a decade. His Jerry Maguire is simply one of the best sports movies ever produced, and Almost Famous is definitely one of my favorite films ever. Vanilla Sky falls far short of the greatness of these films. So much that I didn't even like Vanilla Sky at all. It pains me to say it, it really does, but Cameron Crowe has finally made a bad movie.

So much for his streak. Somewhere in his efforts to expand his personal film horizons he forgot what had made his previous films such wonderful features: they had characters that breathed humanity. None of the characters are particularly enviable. It's impossible to sympathize with any of them. Penelope Cruz's Sofia comes close but isn't able to make the final connection. Tom Cruise's David Aames is a complete jerk that inherited all his money, goes through women like they're used sheets of paper, and has never really had to do anything in his life to get to where he is: unbelievably successful and rich. Cameron Diaz's Julie fares only slighty better, even though she might be the moral anchor of the story (if that's saying much).

It's not that I was expecting a completely different film than I got. I expected something closer to Mulholland Drive than Jerry Maguire. I knew that there would be a horrible accident and David's life would completely change. I didn't expect, however, the occasionally spotty dialogue or the inconsistent pacing.

The film isn't a complete waste of time, as I no doubt has made it seem. There's a great soundtrack and some notable individual scenes. A nightclub scene, in particular, is very well done as is the very beginning in a mysteriously empty Times Square. The first half of the film, where the focus is on the emerging romance between corrupt David and innocent Sofia, holds together the best upon inspection, but is quickly forgotten when Julie's car flies off the bridge.

Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise both should be commended for pushing their careers in new, innovative directions. I just wish that their efforts could have been successful. Cameron Crowe still will be one of my favorite directors, but Vanilla Sky didn't help. It didn't help at all.

On a scale of 1 to 10 dreamscapes : 4

[Note: Vanilla Sky contains the final images of The World Trade Center Towers ever to be seen on film. Kudos to Crowe for having the courage to keep them in there. Many others have cowered away, but Crowe fought to honor their place in America's history. I greatly admire his decision.]