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Overall Rating : 3/10
Directed By : John August
Ryan Reynolds (Smokin' Aces)
Hope Davis (The Weather Man)
Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls)
Elle Fanning (Babel)
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : January. 21, 2008
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| PLOT The Nines consists of three short films, each featuring the same actors in different — and sometimes overlapping — roles. Together, three stories form a single narrative that explores the relationships between author and character, actor and role, creator and creation. Alternately funny and unsettling, The Nines is like a riddle where the answer is the question: "How does it all add up?" "The Prisoner" tells the story of a troubled television star who finds himself under house arrest, with his chipper publicist and his disillusioned next-door neighbor providing his only links to the outside world. Mysterious events lead him to question whether one or more of the women are deceiving him about the nature of his incarceration. "Reality Television" is a half-hour episode of "Behind the Screen," a Project Greenlight-style documentary series tracking the process of creating a network television drama. "Knowing" finds an acclaimed videogame designer and his wife facing car trouble deep in the woods. Their daughter uncovers information which leads to a difficult and irrevocable choice. |
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| THE REVIEW THE NINES, which is Director John August's directorial debut(he has written films such as GO, and THE CORPSE BRIDE), is unique, both in story and overall idea in general. In THE NINES we have 3 Actors; Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, and Melissa McCarthy - (and one constant character named Noelle, played by Elle Fanning), all of which portray 3 different characters respectively, in 3 very different short stories. In the first of the three, we see Ryan Reynolds play a struggling TV Action star named Gary, whom is sentenced to house arrest, after setting his house ablaze. To serve his time, his publicist has him stay at the home of a writer, while he is away on business - and within this time, he begins to believe that the house in which he is staying is haunted, he also watches on as his publicist (McCarthy) and the seductive neighbor(Davis), begin to Mysteriously fight over him. In the second story, Reynolds is a Television writer, Gavin, whom is in the process of producing his new TV drama. And with that, he progress is being documented for a reality TV show. Within this story, we watch as the show is cast, ADRed, and screened, and from that screening his top star and his number one choice(McCarthy) receives a bad reception from the small audience. The reception is then viewed by the studio as a bad sign, and the studio rep(Davis), informs Gavin, the execs want him to move forward with a choice of their own. Eventually their choice bails on him as well, and likewise the studio abandons the show, as this story comes to yet another mysterious end. In the third and final story, Reynolds now portrays a popular video game designer whose wife and daughter(McCarthy and Fanning) who are accompanying him as their car breaks down near a wooded area. As Gabriel goes to look for help, he runs into a backpacker treading down the road, she recognizes him on the account of his fame, and as their conversation goes on, pieces from the other stories start to mesh with the third - but not as nicely as you'd think, or even need them to. As if you couldn't already tell by reading the above, THE NINES, is a very difficult film to grasp as a whole. At first the film progresses in a sort of anthology type film, like a CREEPSHOW, or even TALES FROM THE CRYPT, and if you are familiar at all with those types of stories, you'd know that they are short stories, with a beginning middle and a conclusive ending. Sometimes the ending of an anthology would relate to every story within, creating an ultimate ending for the film in it's entirety. With THE NINES, we have the same scenario, each of the short stories(more so the first two), drop little hints within, that in some way are supposed to make the third story - our conclusion all make since. By the film's end, it is somewhat revealed, that the final story was the core story of the film all together and that the stories were to provide us with answers as to why this was so. Unfortunately, all of this is not exactly revealed to us in a very plausible way, and makes little sense, with too much left unanswered. I get that THE NINES tries to be a clever and "artsy" film by leaving much left for self-interpretation, which is fine by me. But with that said, the film has so many lose ends that are left to ponder over, that I still couldn't tell you exactly, just what this film is about overall. Among the many things left unexplained is the green bracelet made of yarn in which all of Reynolds' characters wear, and the number 9 itself which is the basis of the film's title. It is mentioned a lot, a lot is said about the number, but i'm still unsure of what it had to do with the film at all. THE NINES has great performances from the cast, and a polished appearance, but in the end it's story thinks ahead of itself too much, all the while leaving it's audience behind in a world of confusion. |
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| GORE
METER N/A |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 The scoring is mostly classical piano with a few up-tempo tracks on occasion. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall, THE NINES has a story that sounds confusing, and is confusing(and even harder to write about). I'll admit that when I read the film's synopsis for the first time, I wasn't too crazy about it, but since Ryan Reynolds is one of my favorite actors, I gave it a shot. And even though, Reynolds once again gives a great performance 9this time as 3 very different characters), it was still not hardly enough to get me to really enjoy this film. This DVD will be released on January 29, 2008 |
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