In the Cut

More like Mark Roughalo, right?

A woman struggles to figure out how to identify which man is crazy in a good way, in a sea of males who are all the other kinds of crazy. Dismissed on the grounds it lacks the proper characteristics of the genre, but critics and audiences rarely admit the real reasons they reject genuine attempts to explore female desire. The characters inhabit an unsettling and original universe, suffused with sexuality and violence, and often funny. But most of the strongest elements come from the novel.

Move along now, people, nothing to see here. Just your usual crime thriller, nothing special to see here, move right along. Wait, this has Meg Ryan's tits in it! Okay, maybe this is of some worth.

Better than its reputation. Campion dispenses with the plot effectively, leaving a lot of room for what she really cares about--sexual politics and the darkness of human relationships. Megan Ryan is better than usual, Ruffalo and Leigh are both very good, and Kevin Bacon has an interesting cameo.

Underseen, loaded sexual drama for the literary minds, where Meg Ryan gets dirtily erotic with Mark Ruffalo. Flirts with the best of Clare Denis at times- look out for the Kevin Bacon cameo!

A nice depiction of how irresistible masculine attraction is closely connected to violence, crime and vulgar slangs, enticing in a way that can hardly be seen in cinema nowadays. Some unusually honest lines that require a real sense of cock to appreciate. Smart usage of poems and literature too.

It was doing OK until it completely lost me in the third act. Frannie's suspicions of Malloy are so stupid, and motivated by nothing but plot contrivance, and all the annoying red herrings are forgotten about for that ridiculous, stupid denouement. I advise you turn it off once the handcuffs come out and just make up your own ending.

Campion's muted style and Ryan's anti-charismatic take on the roll may leave some viewers feeling very alienated, but that's the point, and when it comes down to it, the movie is not about it's dull serial killer plot as much as it is examining women's roles in these sorts of plots.

This movie really blew. The "twist" ending was so stupid and predictable it almost made me vomit. Also this has some really terrible writing. Kevin Bacon is the best character in the movie but he is so useless and unnecessary that it's frustrating to see him waste away in this crap movie. And they never explain the villain's motive. Nice job, Jane. I think Meg Ryan had to get naked just so people would remember this movie. Do yourself a favor and just google the images and skip this turd.

Disappointing crime drame. Embarassing performance for Ryan.

Lets the allegory get in the way of sensible human behavior in a couple of places, but still a deeply meaningful and powerfully sexual film. Campion's best work.

Thanks for the boobies Meg.

the visual sense, here seems revolutionary. recommending this, as i do all of janes films.

It's always a disappointment when something with this much talent doesn't go well. There are a lot of good actors in this, it's directed by Jane Campion, but it just doesn't work. The main issue is the pacing. It feels aggressively slow for a movie of this sort and commits the cardinal sin, especially for a thriller: it's often boring. The twist is dumb but completely predictable if you've ever seen a thriller. There are some nice stylistic touches at times, but it's not good.

Meg Ryan is quite good in this movie, the way it's shot is too late 90s early 2000s for my liking. Still a fairly solid look at sex and murder in the NYC summer.

Sure, an erotic thriller that is light on the pulp and focuses more on the misogyny and violence is good in theory. But in this case, it's an ugly and drab, continually uses this blurring technique on the sides of the shot, and feels like 90 minutes being strung along into 120. This is a film better read about than actually watching. Ruffalo plays the horniest man that has ever existed.

The revolving red herring structure common to killer thrillers has thematic weight for once, used here to explore all manner of The Shit Women Put Up With, with all manner of texture to spare. I loved the long, digressive scenes; the lived-in, thought-out detail. Not thought out was the plot, making a moron of Ryan's character on its way to a predictable conclusion. Also would've been more interesting if she'd switched roles with Jennifer Jason Leigh, but there's no way that was getting funded.

Its a bit disappointment. One could expect more from Jane Campion. On the positive side, camera work is beautiful and movie has good sexual tension and a bit fondling now and then.

Surprised at the poor reception for this moody and seductive thriller. Campion is less concerned with the identity of her killer than the fact that every male her protagonist meets could plausibly be him. It's a horror film about the baseline of casual misogyny a woman must be prepared to face just to live and breathe in the world, and about the the difficulty of navigating that complex web.

Decent attempt at showing the darker side of love, just seemed a little too slow moving at times. Good performances by Ruffalo and Ryan (who breaks out of her standard roles here) keep it at least interesting enough to give it a watch.

It's not good, but Mark Ruffalo saves it from sheer indifference.

Not terrible, but not something I'd really recommend. It gets to a point where you just have to say, "Oh, they like to screw. Let's move on to something else." There isn't a whole lot of story and the payoff is unsatisfying. Decent, uncharacteristic performance from Meg Ryan though and Ruffalo is good, as always.

Drowsy, post-Seven thriller exploring sexuality in the pulp genre. If Campions methods weren't so doggedly pretentious, the film could have been hugely enjoyable, because there's the potential for good times in the sleazy plot. Everytime she goes over the top the film gains a crazy energy, as in the skating dream sequence or everytime Bacon makes an appearance. Sadly, for long stretches the film is a hazy, brooding and dull smudge of erotica and red herrings. Even so, a very interesting failure.

"...fails to communicate the same complexities about men and women that Campion has more deeply explored in her earlier films." - Jeremiah Kipp

Jane Champion's greatest work... still a turd though.

This movie has far too much Ruffalo thatch, and Meg Ryan (who now looks like a weird cat faced demon) vag.

#00s(m)#, hype, story, Meg R.

Campion does such a brilliant job of conveying the air of potential violation some women may feel walking down the street that her portrayal of men here is unequivocally 1-sided. When the men here aren't crass, psychotic or leeringly sexual, they're homicidal. Campion's view of women isn't much better as they've either become catatonically inured 2 red flags or live in a romantic dreamworld out of a need 2 land 1 of these brutes. Still, evocative visuals& the unusual protagonist kept me watching

rewatch. better than its reputation. still have some problems with it. it just doesn't quite work. visually quite ugly sadly, though probably intentionally. wish kidman had the lead role as was intended, ryan is fine but not the same level.

Uninteresting sexy.

I usually hesitate before I call a movie pretentious, but that's really how I feel about this one.

Meg, put your clothes back on!

I hated this film... Bad movie, baaaaad!!!

This movie is full of people who should never have done this movie because they're better than it is. Meg Ryan? Jennifer Jason Leigh? Kevin Bacon? Mark Ruffalo? Come on!

Hmmm

Very strange movie. Sometimes you do not know, if they mean that, another minute its really good.