You know you're in for a strange and possibly juvenile experience when the movie you're watching opens with a Radiohead song.
For anyone who thinks Vanilla Sky is pretentious and incoherent, I get it. This thing's a total mess, from the convoluted storytelling to the dissonant mix of genres. And it's got one of those all-too-impressed-with-itself third acts that I'm not generally a fan of. But I also can't pretend that the puzzling premise and the creative soundtrack and the warm cinematography and the passionate performance from Tom Cruise didn't speak to the edgy and confused teenager in me.
Does it all manage to come together? Couldn't tell ya. But I respect the ambition here. I like that Cameron Crowe had the audacity to make something so weird and sentimental. And even if all the risks don't pay off (frankly, a good majority of them probably don't), it nevertheless takes me back to a time when Hollywood wasn't afraid to take huge swings with huge names.
Solid concept, middling execution. Might have to check out Open Your Eyes now.
Grade: B
P.S. Radiohead is actually among favourite bands. But that doesn't mean that I don't still get "desperate for cool points" vibes from a director whenever they use one (or, in this case, two) of their songs.
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