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"Chloe"
Amanda Seyfried steals the show as the title character, but director Atom Egoyan and rest of the cast fail to take "Chloe" to a higher level.
Infidelity. Just the suspicion of it can ruin a marriage. Mix in the world's oldest profession - prostitution, toss in a dash of obsession, and you have a recipe for disaster. This is the scenario for Chloe, a tepid tale of mistrust with a marvelous supporting performance by Amanda Seyfried (Dear John, Mamma Mia!).
Catherine (Julianne Moore) and David Stewart (Liam Neeson) seem to have the perfect life in Toronto. She is a successful doctor. He is a well-respected professor of classical music. However, rust is all you find when you scratch the surface.
The Stewarts' marriage has turned cold and distant. To Catherine's chagrin, David constantly flirts with attractive, younger woman. Her insecurity and doubts about his fidelity reach a boiling point when he makes a fumbling excuse as to why he misses a grand birthday party Catherine throws for him.
The pressure Catherine is under is made worse by their musically gifted teenage son, Michael (Max Thieriot) who ignores his mother's protestations about his rebellious behavior, which includes having sleep-overs with girls.
Desperate, Catherine hires Chloe (Seyfried), a beautiful, high-priced escort to tempt David and then report to her. With each subsequent meeting, Chloe's dirty details become increasingly heated. Catherine's obsession with it all leads to unintended consequences for herself and Chloe.
Seyfried infuses her character with a complexity that's hidden by an unnerving blank stare that implies her as being a naive girl who has become trapped in a horrible situation. Quite the contrary. Thanks to Seyfried's subtle transitions, Chloe is a crafty manipulator who can change her colors as easy as any chameleon. Despite her instabilities, Seyfried manages to make her sympathetic.
If not for Seyfried, Chloe would be almost unsalvageable. Moore fails to inspire, with Neeson being equally average. Who knows, it's possible that Thieriot will develop into an outstanding young actor some day, but his performance in Chloe is a boringly stereotype of every other teenager-in-rebellion storyline.
Director Atom Egoyan, who received two Oscar nominations in 1998 for The Sweet Hereafter, attempts to create dramatic tension with Thieriot's forgettable character but fails to do so. The only genuine tension is created by Seyfried and even that is not enough to save an ending that's horribly predictable. Egoyan had most of the necessary ingredients but failed to follow any recipe for true success.
On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Chloe receives a C.
Chloe is rated R and has a running time of 96 minutes.
Now showing through April 15 @
Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf, Overland Park
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com or call 913-642-4404 for more information.
Indie Film Editor
Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.
In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.
Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.
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