Review: Side Effects

Side Effects
Cert: 15 / 106 mins / Dir. Steven Soderbergh



Although Soderbergh's latest film is slightly less along the lines of Daily Express panic than one of his recent efforts, it's still not too far off. Once The Incident™ occurs*¹ the story settles more into problem-solving mode and less 'make people needlessly (even more) scared of pharmacautical companies'. Unfortunately, the downside of this is that we spend more time in Jude Law's company and less in Rooney Mara's. While I genuinely believe Mara's performance in this film is nothing short of outstanding, everyone else seems to be phoning it in (with the exception of CZJ, who seems to be aiming even lower by reprising her role from Rock of Ages, but without singing).

And it all coasts along quite nicely until the last twenty minutes, which seems to have been when the cleaners came in late one Friday afternoon and typed a new ending because they'd accidentally destroyed the original. From a story point-of-view, it makes some sense, but stylistically, it's quite baffling. A bit like falling asleep watching a thriller on Channel 5, then waking up to their late-night schedule. I imagine.

All in all, Side Effects works well enough, but it's nowhere near as smooth as it'd like to be. That said, it's worth watching for Rooney Mara. The woman has a serious talent.

MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS (highlight to read): See? It wasn't the evil pharma companies what done it this time! It was THE EVIL LESBIANS! You had your hand, and you played it like a fucking hero, Steven. I look forward to your film, The Evil Immigrants Done It. What's that? You're retiring?. Yes, I suppose that is for the best…

The whodunnit? is nicely executed; the whydunnit?, not so much.

Mmmm, not really.



Mostly.



Yeah.



DVD.



No.



No.



No.





*¹ And in fairness, when The Incident™ did occur, I winced and heard plenty of audible gasps in the cinema. That moment was well played.

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