The story about a man named Tom Stall who has a little more interesting history then he’s led everyone to believe. Complete with a few very graphic scenes of violence, a couple sex scenes that seemed to go on awkwardly long, and a plot twist that was a little too predictable for its own good. This movie is interesting because I’ve heard some people rave about and some people who hate it, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear reason. For me it seems like it was trying to be really interesting and stylized, but never quite got there. I could tell that there was a certain stylization to it which I enjoyed, but I never quite got it. I suppose it’s the idea of the tension before something snaps, but the snap always seemed so weak that it wasn’t worth the 15 minutes of silence I just sat through to get to it. It seemed like it may have been playing on the “Father knows Best” kind of fifties dialogue, but it was so awkward that the actors came off like they were just doing a really poor job. Other than Maria Bello as Tom’s wife Edie, there’s not real notable acting performances.

However, thanks to this movie I will probably never try to have sex on a staircase. Fair enough.

Overall Rating: 3