Playing God

Don't analyse the plot if you can help it. Boring, it is not.

It's unusual to find a movie that seeks to entertain within a self-imposed time constraint and this one has a few memorable one-liners to take away. That, alone, makes this worth seeing.

In case you're wondering, I'm not a Duchovny 'fan'. A Timothy Hutton fan...? Well, it was a show-stealing performance...

I didn't expect much from this movie, as I must admit I only watched it to see David Duchovny. I was pleased to find that David was not the only member of the cast to turn in an interesting and entertaining performance. Timothy Hutton was very convincing as the "bad guy" with a real weakness for his beautiful girl friend, played by Angelina Jolie. Angelina is both a beautiful and talented actress. I have seen her in several movies since this one and enjoyed her in all of them. I thought she gave an especially moving performance in Gia. I enjoyed watching Playing God as the story moved along at a good pace, there was plenty of action and I especially enjoyed David's narrative which lent some humor at just the right times to what could have been just another bloody movie. I would recommend this film to any David Duchovny fans as he is at this best here, and also to any of you who enjoy Angelina Jolie. I give this movie 8 stars.

David Duchovney creates a role that he was to replicate somewhat in Californication - the troubled talent. And it is a role he plays well.

This thriller starts off at a good speed and carries you through to the end. Timothy Hutton plays a fine villain and Angelina Jolie pouts. The story of a disgraced doctor finding his way into a criminal world is well scripted. Drug addiction and a desire for the sultry Jolie mix a heady cocktail. Unfortunately towards the end the story gets a little weaker and the relationships between villains and the FBI is muddled and rushed as if it was created only to develop the final scene. But, that aside, a movie worth seeing.

Smart, funny script with interesting original premise of the doctor forced to work for criminals. The movie wanders, though, as there's no real central plotline. Great dialogue, but maybe the subsidiary characters are more interesting than the main characters. Script is dramatic/comedic; movie is played down, but the choice to do so seems to have robbed the movie of much-needed juice. The stakes don't seem to be too high for any character. Direction is competent, but doesn't match the script. Hutton is scary, but doesn't have much to do except act scary. Duchovny is fine, but I think he was cast mostly for his X-Files fame at the time. He's not exactly the most charismatic lead actor.

Hollywood possesses the penchant for remaking old classic films, such as Gus Van Sant's re-working of Hitchcock's Psycho. Here's an idea: instead of remaking GOOD movies, why don't we remake bad ones, and try to improve them? In such a world, I would nominate "Playing God" for a treatment. The premise is interesting, and the script, although at times uneven, has moments of poetic lyricism and some nice touches. So . . . what happened? The finger must be pointed at the performances, which fail to capture the essence of the screenplay. David Duchovny is cast against type as a drug-addled ex-physician, and Timothy Hutton's portrayal of gangster Raymond Blossom borders on the plane of villainy and its cariacture. Duchovny, whose deadpan delivery and solemn glances work fine in the X-Files, must realize that the role he's playing here is NOT Fox Mulder, but a much more unsympathetic character. Grade: C