Dir. Steven Soderbergh
106 Minutes
Rated R
Steven Soderbergh is not retiring. The movie blogosphere went aflame with unwarranted disappointment after Soderbergh stated that Side Effects would be his final theatrical outing as director, which may be true (though I doubt it), but his words were misconstrued; he was simply expressing that he wanted to try other things, like a television mini-series or maybe something along the lines of Netflix's House of Cards. In my mind I'm game for anything he does, no matter what the format, so stop crying about this being the final film. But all that nonsense aside, Side Effects, if it were to be his last film, would be worthy of that title. In many ways an homage to Hitchcock, the film brought back Scott Z. Burns, who teamed with Soderbergh on Contagion a couple years ago (which landed in my top ten of 2011) and The Informant before that.
Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) welcomes home her husband (Channing Tatum) after spending four years in prison for insider trading. When the two come back together and try to reestablish their home life, Emily starts to fall into a deep depression and soon attempts to take her own life. In comes Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), a psychiatrist who sees her a few times a week and prescribes her some medication to no avail. After consulting with Emily's previous doctor (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Banks decides to try a new medication called Ablixa. And if you could guess from the title alone, the new pills have some disastrous results.
In much the same vein as Contagion, this is a smartly put together, slickly filmed twist on a familiar genre, namely the "wrong man" thriller that was popularized by Hitchcock films like North by Northwest and The 39 Steps. What separates this from simply being a genre re-hash is its unique style and the way it interconnects all these different characters without knowing exactly who to trust. All the actors give stellar performances, in particular Rooney Mara and Jude Law. Mara really sells this portrayal of a depressed woman, and Jude Law is so likable in his role, even when he's caught making questionable decisions you can't help but root for him. I was also happy to see Ann Dowd in a decent supporting role as Emily's mother (if you haven't seen Compliance it's on Netflix now so you have no excuse not to see it).
While I did find that some of the twists were gasp-worthy (in fact, during one particular scene, my entire audience gasped in unison like in a cartoon), especially nearing the end I had figured out what was going on before most the "surprise" revelations. I still enjoyed the movie, but some of the twists were broadcasted a mile away before they happened. As it is, it's another solid film from one of the most interesting and reliable directors working today. It may have those 'procedural' elements, but it feels fresh, stylish, and has a fast pace with almost no "filler" moments. In my mind it falls a little short of Contagion, but it's in the same ballpark. And as an added note: I can hardly wait to see what Scott Z. Burns does with next year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (now titled Pill-Poppin' Monkeez).
Rating: B
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