20131008: Thriller Review--Side Effects

Side Effects

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, rated R, 2013, 105 minutes, thriller, crime, drama.
2. IMDB: 7.1/10.0 from 75,646 users; estimated budget,  30 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 84% on the meter; 72% from 59,916 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.6/5.0 from 386,769 users.
5. Directed by: Steven Soderbergh; written by Scott Z. Burns.
6. Starring: Rooney Mara as Emily Taylor, Jude Law as Dr. Jonathon Banks, Channing Tatum as Martin Taylor, Carmen Pelaez as Prison Desk Guard, Marin Ireland as Upset Visitor, Polly Draper as Emily's mother, Vinessa Shaw as Dierdre Banks, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Dr. Victoria Siebert.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Emily's husband Martin gets out of jail after five years.  Shortly thereafter she attempts suicide.  She starts seeing Dr. Banks professionally; soon after, Banks talks to Dr Siebert about Emily's past therapy.  Emily is sensitive to the drugs; some of them make her vomit.  She gets non-professional recommendations for alternate drugs as well.  Dr Siebert recommends a new drug called Ablixa.


2. At this stage, we're already deeply caught up in a web of lies.


3. Emily's depression continues.  Zoloft stops her sleep and kills her sex drive.  So he prescribes Ablixa.


4. A drug rep convinces Banks to participate in a study involving Ablixa.  Since Banks, his wife, and their son have just moved, they would welcome the money.


5. Emily regains her sex drive, and has lots of energy.  That is, too much energy, like making breakfast before dawn.  Her situation degenerates, she kills Martin, and lands in jail.  Banks tries to intervene with the cops, but he has no real footing for that, since she did the deed.


6. A defense lawyer representing Ablixa users who have committed crimes approaches Banks.  He's sympathetic, but does not really know what to do to help.


7. Emily's mother goes on television to express her concerns about the drugs used.  Banks gets hounded by the press.  He also gets an official inquiry.


8. Emily gets a hearing; Banks is one of the main witnesses.  Emily gets a non-voluntary stay at the psychiatric hospital instead of a murder trial.  Banks' career comes under attack from a variety of angles.


9. Banks talks to Siebert to get more information and a handle on the whole growing mess.  Siebert puts the blame back on Banks; Emily had told him about her sleepwalking, yet Banks kept her on the Ablixa.


10. Banks tries to reconstruct some of Emily's actions to figure out her state of mind vis  a vis Ablixa.  He interviews some other patients who did somewhat well with Ablixa.


11. Banks fails to remember some of his family responsibilities; he starts letting himself go.  Emily seems better at the psychiatric hospital.


12. Ablixa's bad media reputation means that its competitors are up considerably in the stock market, and its manufacturing company Sadler-Benelux has its stock going down.  Banks' personal bad press gets him fired from lucrative contracts with other drug companies.  Banks' wife gets more and more discouraged with him; this accelerates when she gets a job after being unemployed for months.


13. Banks' digging continues.  Many leads point to Siebert; he has many one on one conversations with her.  His career continues to slide.


14. By the time he gets to the real motivational real drivers of the piece, it's almost too late.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Lies and more lies in the high-flying worlds of securities and pharmaceuticals.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Except for the segments with the yellow plus rose filters, the camera work is excellent.  Soderbergh's team used this hellish filter combination in the 2011 film Haywire, to bad effect.  It makes the film look like a faded VHS tape, or old set of stills that have lost their blue pigment, instead of a crisp, digital, 2013 film.


2. Sound: 7/10 No particular problems, but not really used to good effect.


3. Acting: 5/10 Channing Tatum was clearly miscast.  Rooney Mara gave an opaque performance.  Of course, she played a character who was supposedly either in shock or  taking mind-dulling drugs much of the time.  Zeta-Jones was my favorite in this one.  Jude Law was rather good.  His performance was what kept me watching the film; later Zeta-Jones' performance made watching even more enjoyable.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Holds together well.  Better actors would have helped the execution; that is, just about anyone other than Tatum and Mara.  Law and Zeta-Jones made the film tolerable.