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Catherine Keener
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Sadie Goldstein
Peter Friedman
Josh Pais
Daniel London

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A struggling stage director feels that his life is unsuccessful as he struggles with success and women. He discovers an old warehouse and decides to direct a play that includes a life size replica. How long will it take for him to pull off this play?

05/17/2009 (0 of 1 found this helpful)

Ambitious but Doesn't Deliver

This is the kind of movie that is frustrating to watch because its ambition got in the way of true emotional resonance. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, a theater director who one day decides to make an epic life-size play about his whole life. He makes that decision because he wants to know how his life turns out the way it is, to understand why his relationship with the people he loves most simply did not work. There are four women in his life that have impacted him greatly: Samantha Morton, a box-office worker, Hope Davis, a shrink, Michelle Williams, a stage actress, and Catherine Keener, Caden’s wife. The first thirty minutes of this picture is very engaging: I felt how alienated Caden was because he doesn’t feel appreciated by his family and the people he works with. Th...

Rating of
2/4 

12/07/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Creative, Confusing, and Unique But That's it

Charlie Kaufman is a creative genius. He brings his vast creativity to this flick much like he did in all of his other films he wrote. This time though, Kaufman is the writer and the direcotor while normally he only writes.

Hoffman and cast do an amazing job of acting in this wierd, out of control flick. This movie is not for everyone. If you are not a fan of his previous films (or even if you are) you may be disappointed. It is very good at times and highly entertaining through small parts. But the uniqueness is the sole reason why I gave it 3 stars.

The bad part is that I was bored for about a half hour (towards the end) and didn't seem to move enough. The film was not all that long so I think it could have been improved with some simple edits. The other bad thing is that...

Rating of
3/4 

10/16/2008 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

Charlie Kaufman Does It Again

(the review contains minor spoilers)

Rating: A, 98/100 (Eternal Sunshine would be 100), 10/10, 4/4

Charlie Kaufman explores the depression of Caden Cotard, a playwright/ hypochondriac (Philip Seymour Hoffman). It all stems from his wife (Catherine Keener), but he knows and the audience knows that she is not the cause of all his problems, although she is quite unsettling.

We are introduced to Hazel (Samantha Morton), a sweet distraction from his decaying family life. However, his sense of loyalty stands in the way of anything meaningful happening with her.

As he grows older, Caden becomes acutely aware of the things that are missing from his life. His focus is on himself, but in his myopic state he cannot identify the problem. So he comes up with the best solution he can. He'll...

Rating of
4/4