“Breaking and Entering” (The Weinstein Company)
Nothing Worth Stealing
Anthony Minghella is the director of such Hollywood hits as “The English Patient,” “Cold Mountain” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Each of those movies had a measure of success. His latest “Breaking and Entering” probably will not. Although it stars Jude Law, Robin Wright Penn and Juliette Binoche the film itself borders on banality. If “Breaking and Entering” is a story about thievery, there is nothing in the movie worth stealing.
In the film Will Francis (Law) is an architect. He lives with Liv (Penn) and her daughter Bea (Poppy Rogers). Although they are not married, Will treats Bea as his daughter. She is a child with problems bordering on autism.
One night Will’s company is robbed. He and his partner Sandy (Martin Freeman) are stumped as to who could have committed the crime. The robbers came in through a glass pane in the roof. The audience is shown that the thief is Miro (Rafi Gavron), a young man from Sarajevo who came to London with his mother Amira (Binoche).
Will stakes out his company and soon he spies Miro scaling the building. He gives chase and eventually tracks him to his home. He doesn’t confront him but later goes back and hires his mother to do some sewing for him. He seems to have some sort of plan in mind but it is never made clear.
What does happen is Will falls for Amira and begins a relationship with her. Amira is unaware of Will and her son’s involvement. She just thinks he is a nice Londoner who has come to care for her. Will meanwhile is conflicted by his feelings for Amira and his feelings for Liv.
The movie eventually reaches a resolution of sorts but it is neither satisfactory nor unsatisfactory. The characters in this movie are so bland that working up any feelings for them is impossible, and the storyline is just lukewarm adultery.
Law. Penn and Binoche are all zombie-like in this film. They walk through their roles with little emotion or enthusiasm. It is almost impossible to imagine that Minghella thought this was a good product. If the average audience member can see its flaws, why can’t he
Vera Farmiga has a cameo as a prostitute Will meets when he is staking out his company building. She has the potential to create an interesting character but she exits about half way through the movie. So much for having anybody interesting stick around.
The movie is rated R for profanity, violence and nudity.
“Breaking and Entering” is a movie that never comes to life. It is a morbid tale full of lifeless performances (except for Farmiga). This one won’t be winning any awards for Minghella. It might just set his career back for years to come.
I scored “Breaking and Entering” a misdemeanor 4 out of 10.
