I've heard mixed reviews of this movie (and I am well aware that it stirred a fair bit of anger in Newfoundland at what was perceived - rightly, in my view - as its unfair presentation of life on "The Rock" - and I have to confess having now seen it that I just didn't care for it very much.
Kevin Spacey plays Quoyle, an inksetter for a newspaper in Poughkeepsie, New York. Quoyle is - frankly - a bit of a loser. By accident he meets the woman of his dreams one night (Petal, played by Cate Blanchett) and they end up almost immediately married and with a child, except that Petal doesn't take Quoyle, the marriage, motherhood or anything else very seriously. Quoyle is basically an emotionally abused husband, albeit a pretty good dad. Petal is tragically killed and his father dies and he meets his father's sister (Agnis Hamm, played by Judy Dench) who convinces him that he should move to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, where he starts all over.
That's the story. The basic problem - to me - is that it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. Spacey and Dench put on good performances, but I just didn't find it a particularly interesting movie. And there were a number of things that bugged me.
First, the portrayal of Newfoundlanders was offensive. Based on this you'd think everybody in Newfoundland was an incestuous drunkard. Second, How did Quoyle move so easily from New York to Newfoundland? It's true that you wouldn't know it from this movie where the only shot of a flag you see is of an American flag, but Newfoundland is a part of CANADA. You don't just one day up and move from New York to Newfoundland. There are immigration requirements to be met, paperwork to be done, etc., etc., yet Quoyle just seems to up and move. And without any of the legal requirements being met, how does this guy get a job in Canada? Curious. And third - my pet peeve - the wake at the end of the movie is totally ridiculous. I served as a clergyman in Newfoundland for three years in the mid 1990's. What happened at that wake (I won't give it away) might have happened 50 years ago, but not today. They've discovered the fine art of embalming in Newfoundland. The body would be fished from the ocean (most likely by the RCMP), probably autopsied, embalmed at a funeral home and in a small town most likely waked in a church, not somebody's home.
There are some good points here. Spacey and Dench were really quite good in their roles, and there is some excellent photography of the Newfoundland coastline. The story itself, though, just doesn't work. Not for me at least.
3/10
Kevin Spacey plays Quoyle, an inksetter for a newspaper in Poughkeepsie, New York. Quoyle is - frankly - a bit of a loser. By accident he meets the woman of his dreams one night (Petal, played by Cate Blanchett) and they end up almost immediately married and with a child, except that Petal doesn't take Quoyle, the marriage, motherhood or anything else very seriously. Quoyle is basically an emotionally abused husband, albeit a pretty good dad. Petal is tragically killed and his father dies and he meets his father's sister (Agnis Hamm, played by Judy Dench) who convinces him that he should move to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, where he starts all over.
That's the story. The basic problem - to me - is that it just doesn't seem to go anywhere. Spacey and Dench put on good performances, but I just didn't find it a particularly interesting movie. And there were a number of things that bugged me.
First, the portrayal of Newfoundlanders was offensive. Based on this you'd think everybody in Newfoundland was an incestuous drunkard. Second, How did Quoyle move so easily from New York to Newfoundland? It's true that you wouldn't know it from this movie where the only shot of a flag you see is of an American flag, but Newfoundland is a part of CANADA. You don't just one day up and move from New York to Newfoundland. There are immigration requirements to be met, paperwork to be done, etc., etc., yet Quoyle just seems to up and move. And without any of the legal requirements being met, how does this guy get a job in Canada? Curious. And third - my pet peeve - the wake at the end of the movie is totally ridiculous. I served as a clergyman in Newfoundland for three years in the mid 1990's. What happened at that wake (I won't give it away) might have happened 50 years ago, but not today. They've discovered the fine art of embalming in Newfoundland. The body would be fished from the ocean (most likely by the RCMP), probably autopsied, embalmed at a funeral home and in a small town most likely waked in a church, not somebody's home.
There are some good points here. Spacey and Dench were really quite good in their roles, and there is some excellent photography of the Newfoundland coastline. The story itself, though, just doesn't work. Not for me at least.
3/10