James Spader: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
2. Campbell - The Watcher (2000)
A schlocky psychological thriller, The Watcher was made for roughly the same budget as David Finchers Se7en - $30 million - but the money certainly didn't go on the script. Or the camera. Or the script. James Spader just about works for the part retired FBI agent Joel Campbell - he definitely has experienced doing psychologically tormented - but the role demands an expressiveness from him that seems at odd with his skills as an actor. Spader is at his best when doing low-key, or else leaning on his natural gravitas, and the film does him no favors with dialogue like I assume hes still strangling young women with piano wire" (see below). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaNyjieDxd0 Starring across from Keanu Reeves as a sadistic serial killer - himself never the most revealing of actors - it becomes a competition to see who can seem more disinterested. Marissa Tomei injects some vitality as Campbells shrink, but the whole thing is a grainy, badly-lit case of going through the motions. By his own account, Reeves was more or less tricked into appearing but, with the resulting Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor, he might well say that.
