Sliding Doors

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, Jeanne Tripplehorn, John Lynch
Directed by: Peter Howitt II
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Romance
1998
Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: One small event in a woman's (Gwyneth Paltrow) life is shown in two different ways, the outcome completely changing her life. One path features her staying with her cheating boyfriend (John Lynch) and the other, with a charasmatic, good man (John Hannah).

Review:

Tim: This is a really interesting drama. I love the concept for the movie, done very intelligently by Peter Howitt in his directing debut. The whole premise of showing how a single moment in time can completely change someone's life. The best part of this movie is that that it is divided into two parts simultaneously as you watch how one event going either way can make a huge impact on future events.

The cast of this film, though it seems to be impressive, is somewhat disappointing. Paltrow is surprisingly not very good in this role. Paltrow has proven she can act, so I don't really know what was going on in this film. Sure, she has her moments, but on the whole, she's not very inspired and doesn't capture the audience's heart. Watching, you don't really care too much about what happens to her.

The best part of the cast is John Hannah. He gives a very good performance. However, after seeing his bumbling performance in The Mummy movies, its hard to see him as a charming, leading man. Plus, he and Paltrow have next to no chemistry (although I'd place most of the blame on Paltrow).

All in all, Sliding Doors is an interesting film, but other than its originality, it isn't that spectacular. The cast leaves a lot to be desired, and that really hurts the movie because this is the type of film where you desperately need to identify and feel compassion for the main characters. Since we as the audience can't, the whole movie suffers. All in all though, this is a decent romantic drama.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Butterfly Effect, The Mummy, Shakespeare in Love