cathexis_belle

I was somewhat skeptical that Phantom as a movie could work without Michael Crawford; however, Gerard Butler took the part and made it his own! Butler's extreme good looks worked to make him sympathetic to the audience and made the shock of his insanity more extreme. And Emmy Rossum did a fabulous job as Christine, maintaining the innocence and yet providing the edge when needed. Minnie Driver was a riot and played the diva to a T. Patrick Wilson did not immediately grab me; however, his voice eventually won me over. The sets were gorgeous and staging perfect. Over all, an excellent transition from the stage to the screen! Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!

Besides the utter bleakness of this film, the fact that a Yale philosophy graduate has NO books displayed prominently in her hotel room is a sure sign that a

Hollywood psuedo-intellectual penned this script. If `Charlotte' were such an intellectual and was so bored by her stay in Japan, then why is she not seen

reading? And what about the internet? I just really couldn't buy into the premise and felt absolutely nothing for the shallow characters. The few laughs are at the expense of the Japanese people and I think that Bill Murray's face would crack if he changed his expression. An utter waste of time in my book.

The cast performed fabulously in roles that easily could have been

laughable. Denzel's heart-wrenching performance was perfect and

the rest of the cast deserved accolades for carrying off this

implausible storyline. If you want a good cry, this is it. If you want a

good argument for health care reform, which was the thinly veiled

motivation for the movie with a nod toward gun control, this is not

the movie to see. At every turn it contradicts itself including the

ironic plea made by one doctor not to take the child to the county

hospital (ie. government run hospital) because a heart transplant

would be considered elective surgery there. At the end of the movie

there is a media montage with Hillary Clinton promoting her

program which would essentially make all hospitals government

run hospitals.... As a result, the message is somewhat garbled

leaving the viewer confused about what the movie is supposed to

be saying.