How many hundreds of commercials have you seen for prescription medicines in which a gentle voice runs through a gigantic list of side effects that sound worse than the condition itself? I'd imagine Steven Soderbergh has seen more than his share, as he chose this thriller penned by Scott Z. Burns as his alleged farewell to the big screen (good grief, the man's only two years older than me).
This review will be necessarily short and sweet. Rooney Mara is Emily Taylor, whose dream life was turned upside down at the moment of her wedding to Martin (Channing Tatum) thanks to his arrest for insider trading. And even though she's waited patiently for his release for four years, and even though Martin promises to make things right again, Emily soon deliberately drives her car into a brick wall. She awakens under the care of psychiatrist Jude Law... and his treatment, unsurprisingly, involves a prescription.
I will say no more about the story. What I will tell you is that the ads promise you a thriller, and the movie lives up to the promise. I will also tell you that twenty years from now, people will be talking about Rooney Mara's role in the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake much as they talk about the screen origins of Kevin Bacon and Johnny Depp today--she's that good. And so's Jude Law. And... naahh, I'm not going to highlight any more characters for you.
Just see it. You'll be glad you did.
Side Effects
Moderator: Chris Slack