Reviews

The reviewers who loved this movie all seem to like and understand Coppola - whereas I do not know or follow her works. Nor am I American so perhaps there are points which are lost on me. I speak as an ordinary male who enjoys the movies, but I have no special skills for interpreting movies.

I still do not know who Sammy is; I don't know who the girl was that intercepted JM in the hotel in Italy; I don't know who the girl was that met him later on his return from Las Vegas. I got lost trying to work out who Layla is. I appreciate that there was an endless succession of females through his life, but it would make it more real to have some indication of what role the significant ones played.

There was so little dialog that I did not see ANY real communication between JM and Cleo (let alone between Johnny and anyone else!!). How Cleo could have influenced his life in a major way without ever talking is beyond me. Their only conversations were of the style "How ya doin'?" "OK, and you?"

There were far too many scenes that just rolled on interminably with no apparent purpose; presumably they were meant to convey a sense of the boredom pervading Johnny's life. But they just made the movie boring. It would have to be one of the slowest movies I can remember.

There was effectively no dialog, there was no action, no romance and no moral to the story. I have no idea where or why Johnny was headed at the end so I have no idea what the ending of the movie was meant to convey.

Save your time and money and give this one a miss.

I really liked this film because it brings to a wide audience the marriage of mysticism, spirituality and science. It also gave me a deeper insight into the validation of spiritual concepts that quantum physics is providing.

I have long agreed with the basic thrust of the movie, namely that our thought processes produce the reality that we experience. But the addition of so many scientists to explain how quantum physics fits so well with these beliefs was a real joy. I realise that there are many scientific people out there who are offended by, and dismiss as ridiculous, any sort of acceptance of the paranormal or spiritual. People in this category would be wise not to view the film.

My first viewing was on the wide-screen but I then bought the DVD and have watched it several times since. Each time I enjoy it more. After reading many of the negative reviews I have re-examined the movie and find none of the scientific theory to be in error. It is not meant to be (nor could it be) a scientific treatise. It is presenting complicated scientific notions in a format that the masses can understand and it adds a human interest story (Marlee Matlin as Amanda) to demonstrate the results of applying the theory.

I have reduced my vote from 10 to 8 because of several non-verifiable assertions or opinions throughout the movie. One was the story about the Indians not seeing the ships and there were several others by Ramtha. These were not necessary for the storyline and detract from the validity of the rest of the information. One other possible fault was the rapidity with which the concepts were thrown at you. Often, it was not possible to absorb the information as quickly as it was given. Re-watching the film has helped with that.

The acting was highly credible, the animations were amusing and terrific, the scientists and specialists were highly informative and often amusing. The "plot" was very realistic and plausible. All-in-all a wonderful film that all those open to new ideas, change and personal development would be advised to see (several times).