edmass

There are two truly fine performances by Jenkins and Abbass but their acting skill just couldn't make up for the lack of a of a credible plot and the ideologically driven dialog. This is really a classic feel-good movie for the Left. They get to bleed for the hapless illegals and curse the coldly autocratic INS warders. But because the immigrants in question are, after all, illegal - they can walk home with feelings intact because any unhappiness is the fault of the brutish "system".

The Jenkins character is supposedly fighting a losing battle with depression because of the death of his beloved and talented wife but the writers never articulate the meaning of his loss or the way it connects to the immigrants he eventually befriends. And the device of a burned out academic who travels from Connecticut to New York so his name can is used to exploit the talent of a younger (and naturally female) colleague to explain his return to his long neglected New York apartment is just silly.

Unless you are a post-modern groupie who salivates at the mention of "the others" or are in need of yet one more reason to feel guilty for being an American, the story drags and the manipulation grates.

I find it interesting that professional reviewers are markedly polarized by this film. Most of those who give it low marks seeded to think it was somehow lacking "a center", a "message", a "resolution". I tend to think they want stereotypes instead of interesting characters and action over emotional nuance. What I really love about the film are the complex, flawed, witty, clever, lucky, nasty set of characters. The dialog isn't burdened with the usual sprinkling of sitcom cleverness; it is nicely consistent and true to the personalities of the characters. The story line unfolds evenly and with a great sense of pace. Not necessarily a brilliant film but certainly a pleasure to watch.