“In the Cut” (Screen Gems)
Meg Ryan goes dramatic in her role as a schoolteacher in the film “In the Cut.” You can tell she is serious about being taken seriously by the fact she is sporting a mousy brown, unattractive hair color and style. The film is a murder mystery that has to go down as one of the dullest, most lifeless movies of the year; and those words can also be used to describe Meg’s performance.
Meg plays Frannie, an English teacher in New York who seems to have a life that is going nowhere. She and her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) rely on each other for comfort and support, and they both seem oblivious to the other’s neuroses and quirks.
One day Frannie is approached by a Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo). He has some questions about a murder that occurred in her neighborhood. For some reason they are attracted to each other and soon Frannie is fixing up a little and going out on dates with him. The only problem is that she also thinks he might be the killer.
Ryan seems to be doing all in her power to play against type in this movie. There are no girlish giggles; no wide eyed looks of adoration. This character is a no-nonsense type of person and isn’t someone you would say lights up a room. She is also an actively sexual creature, which leads Ryan to have some fairly explicit nude love scenes.
The problem with the movie is the way it is presented. Director Jane Campion fights the audience all the way. There are out of focus sequences, a grating musical score, hand held camera shots which are jerky and nerve racking, and a feeling that the characters and their apartments are full of junk.
Ryan’s acting is okay. Not award winning but okay. Ruffalo is totally without charm but that seems to be the way the role was written and intended. Leigh is only in a few scenes and makes no impression when she appears.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence and nudity.
“In the Cut” is in a rut, or at least the audience is. It is too long, too grimy, too baffling, and too unsolvable. When the movie was over and the killer was revealed I still didn’t understand how or why it all happened. What is even more telling is that I didn’t care!
I scored “In the Cut” a sliced and diced 3 out of 10.
