Here's a fundamental question why is this movie? If you hadn't forgotten that it existed the year it came out and there's a strong argument that you did, it only made back $13,251,545 from its pre-advertising budget of $135 million, before peaking at $77 million you've probably erased it from your mind by now. The fact it's awful probably has a strong bearing on this amnesia. Seriously, no-one comes out well from this Josh Lucas bungled his chance at being a leading man, Jessica Biel once again struck misfortune when attempting to carry a film, and Foxx (who, let's not forget, was an Oscar winner at this point) should've known better. The one conclusion you could probably draw from his performance as Henry Purcell is that he was blowing off steam after his tour-de-force in Ray, as newly-minted Oscar winners are wont to do. But as Foxx later admitted, he knew this was a terrible film. The fact he was saddled with such ridiculous plotting as wooing a Thai girl before discussing military secrets in front of her under the assumption she doesn't speak any English probably gave this away, and if that didn't, the lack of any characterisation beyond frowning (the above is pretty much Foxx's default expression throughout the film) surely would. Again, the problem was simply that there was just nothing for Foxx to bounce his acting chops against, and there was nothing going on behind the frown. Instead, he was stuck in archetype territory, and went down with this destroyed sinking battleship of a film. Agree or disagree? Feel free to comment!
Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League.
You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.
