I liked all three main characters in this simultaneously lightly drawn but very serious and dramatic film... As Paul, Fiennes is, well, fine as the main character (who's determined to swim the Hudson river, for a very special and somewhat scary reason). His two friends, who accompany Paul in a "safety boat" are also very well cast and the three have an instant chemistry, and a finely woven narrative that makes it seem as if they might have known each other for years. Justin Kirk ("weeds") provides the character Jeff, the perfect light touch to our very serious protagonist. Jeff is smart, pragmatic, caring, and sensible and we find him doing many of the things we ourselves would be doing in a similar situation - but ultimately we never find out if any of it works. Elisabeth Reaser (the "Twilight" series) as Liz, also provides the perfect counterpoint to Jeff's light character by seemingly matching Paul's, really very serious dilemma with all the concern any friend would be feeling. Even though Paul's in a self-created situation, neither friend attempts to seriously talk him out of feeling as he does, but they seem to do their best to make life as inviting as possible while they are with him - especially Liz, who goes the extra mile to help Paul and hopefully make him see the light..
By the end of the film, the characters are ready to see a conclusion, and so are we - we've toughed it out for over 90 minutes watching the dynamic and we are anxious to see some sort of pay-off with Paul, good or bad. But the failure of this movie is the ambivalent ending. The fundamental question of the story - will Paul really kill himself? Is posed in practically every scene and is an essential, perhaps the ONLY point of the story. Yet, it's never answered. I feel the ending was a mistake and should have been handled differently... we, the viewer, ultimately feel cheated out of our conclusion to the story, and the ending makes us feel baffled, perplexed, confused and even a little duped.
By the end of the film, the characters are ready to see a conclusion, and so are we - we've toughed it out for over 90 minutes watching the dynamic and we are anxious to see some sort of pay-off with Paul, good or bad. But the failure of this movie is the ambivalent ending. The fundamental question of the story - will Paul really kill himself? Is posed in practically every scene and is an essential, perhaps the ONLY point of the story. Yet, it's never answered. I feel the ending was a mistake and should have been handled differently... we, the viewer, ultimately feel cheated out of our conclusion to the story, and the ending makes us feel baffled, perplexed, confused and even a little duped.