Without a doubt, Vanilla Sky is Cameron Crowe's most underrated feature film. Whilst the director has certainly turned out some rather middling pictures over the years, all deserving of their terrible reviews, there's a sense that Vanilla Sky was a little hard done by. Starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz, Vanilla Sky is a remake of the 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes (which is, in all honesty, a much better film). But whilst Vanilla Sky is something of a mess, it's a strange, absorbing and hypotonic mess - a film made more interesting on account of its failings. It also features a great performance by Tom Cruise, who plays a handsome, wealthy man who loses everything (and his mind). Open Your Eyes was a strange film to remake, all things considered; that Tom Cruise was interested in starring in an American version is likely the only reason it got made. Still, most people seem to remember Vanilla Sky with frustration; as though they were robbed of the movie that they expected to see. Revisiting Crowe's flick (and it's certainly the sort of movie that warrants at least two viewings) reveals it as a flawed but ultimately complex picture. If your only memories of Vanilla Sky consist of that scene in which Cameron Diaz makes Tom Cruise drive his car off a bridge, give it another chance; it's very underrated.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
