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Return to Paradise (1998)
Director: Joseph Ruben
Writers: Pierre Jolivet, Olivier Schatzky
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Drama
Loved the premise and the moral exploration of the theme of responsibility...that's my kind of movie.
But I hated how the actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche acted so light heartened in so many of the scenes, which then diluted any power the movie's moral dilemma had. A scene would start out strong only to have Vince end it by grinning at Anne Heche...I've never seen more smirks and smiles than in this movie. For the subject matter, the tone of the film was too light, except for Joaquin Phoenix who added needed believably to the otherwise mess of a movie.
The characters almost never delivered their lines like a person's life actually depended on them. I didn't believe them for one second, as they didn't act like they believed the situation themselves.
What derailed the film was the romance thing between Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, it added way too much lightness to what needed to be a hard hitting film. I actually laughed a couple time at the daft way the characters handled themselves...At the beginning of the film Anne Heche confronts Vince Vaughn on the street and tells him his friend will be executed in 8 days if he doesn't return to Malaysia to serve jail time (Heche was OK there but then) she goes from serious to happy chirpy when she says 'how about dinner?' 'how about drinks'...The film lost me right there. Then again the script doesn't offer the actors much to work with but ad-hoc gimmicks. But it's the director who I blame most as the entire movie felt too light weight for the seriousness of the subject matter.
Return to Paradise (1998)
Writers: Pierre Jolivet, Olivier Schatzky
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Drama
'Two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession.'
Loved the premise and the moral exploration of the theme of responsibility...that's my kind of movie.
But I hated how the actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche acted so light heartened in so many of the scenes, which then diluted any power the movie's moral dilemma had. A scene would start out strong only to have Vince end it by grinning at Anne Heche...I've never seen more smirks and smiles than in this movie. For the subject matter, the tone of the film was too light, except for Joaquin Phoenix who added needed believably to the otherwise mess of a movie.
The characters almost never delivered their lines like a person's life actually depended on them. I didn't believe them for one second, as they didn't act like they believed the situation themselves.
What derailed the film was the romance thing between Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, it added way too much lightness to what needed to be a hard hitting film. I actually laughed a couple time at the daft way the characters handled themselves...At the beginning of the film Anne Heche confronts Vince Vaughn on the street and tells him his friend will be executed in 8 days if he doesn't return to Malaysia to serve jail time (Heche was OK there but then) she goes from serious to happy chirpy when she says 'how about dinner?' 'how about drinks'...The film lost me right there. Then again the script doesn't offer the actors much to work with but ad-hoc gimmicks. But it's the director who I blame most as the entire movie felt too light weight for the seriousness of the subject matter.