The Confession

I was surprised to see viewers rating of 6 out o 10. I saw it on Cable & got glued to the TV, if not throughout, then at least for the most part. As always, I was impressed by Ben Kingsley's performance: so genuine & magnetic.

I wonder what induced Kingsley, Irving, Noth and Baldwin to participate in this tripe. Understand their beliefs may have led them to do it, but the next time they have a spare weekend, perhaps they could spend it interviewing directors who have a modicum of talent and originality. It was a toss up for me between the direction and the script as to which was the most banal. The consummate professional cast struggled to give the piece some dignity but it was hopeless from the start. On a lighter note, even the delectable Chris Noth plain-janed himself into obscurity.

I'm not a particularly avid follower of movie actors, or of movies as they're released, which probably explains why I found "The Confession"--and Alec Baldwin's performance in it--so surprising. I'd heard nothing about this film and saw it quite by accident.

Movies like "The Confession"--that is, movies with moral dilemmas at their center ("It's not hard to do the right thing; it's hard to know what the right thing is" is the central dilemma of the film)--often bypass the ambiguities of complex moral questions in favor of a single answer everyone can love.

In this film there are moral ambiguities aplenty, and the film deals honestly with the difficulty of facing those ambiguities head-on and taking a clear position. Alec Baldwin's performance was startling and complex--a beautiful thing to watch. The supporting cast, including Amy Irving, was top-notch, too.

Great Performances by Alec Baldwin and Ben Kingsley. But too much time was spent to convert Alec, and reach to what has seemed to have been an obvious climax.

A completely silly movie, trying to be serious. The plot is utterly ridiculous- if you ignore the warnings, and watch this film, ask yourself periodically "what is the dumbest, most obvious turn that this story could take" and you will have predicted the next scene.

Would the death of your 5 year old, then the attempted suicide of your husband turn you on???

Plot 'twists' like this were unwarranted, and bordered on the macabre....

Between nodding off now and then, I kept wondering "why???" Avoid this snoozer.... please.... Rating? 1/2 out of 10