I am an ardent fan of the cinematic arts. Although I have certain genre preferences, I don’t let that stifle my curiosity and close myself to different flavors of entertainment. That said...I am a huge fan of science fiction, super hero and action movies! Please visit my other blog The Boxed Office for reviews, exclusively, on these types of movies.
The Cast:
It’s tough for me to watch Karl Urban now and not think about Doctor McCoy (unless his face is hidden ala Dredd). Even with that though, he continues to be very entertaining to watch and remains a great actor.
I haven’t seen James Marsden since his cameo as Cyclops in the last X-Men film. I have always found him to be a capable actor, even though for me, his association now seems to always be Cyclops. Surprisingly though, his performance here was good enough to take my mind away from all that, as I laughed at the weakness of his character.
Wentworth Mller has always been entertaining to me since Prison Break…and I thoroughly enjoy him now as Captain Cold on the Flash television series. The delivery of his role here is very good and he brings more to the film than anyone else.
The Plot:
Vincent Stevens (Urban) is an architect on the rise and has an idea he shares with his four best friends. The five decide on sharing a loft as a place they can bring other women to cheat on their wives.
Chris Vanowen (Marsden) is reluctant at first but later finds himself seduced into using the loft. Unfortunately, with his marriage teetering on the edge, he lets his emotions get the best of him and falls in love with a situation that is purely sexual for the bother person.
Luke Seacord (Miller) is the most loyal to his wife and never uses the loft for the nefarious purpose the other four do, even though he accepts a key and promises his silence about the secrets of everyone else.
When Luke goes to loft one morning and finds the body of woman chained to the bed, he calls the other four and kicks of a mystery that takes more turns than a roller coaster and has more twists than a Twizzler.
What follows is the unraveling of secrets within secrets held together by lies leading ultimately to revenge!
The Verdict:
The films starts off near the end and backtracks to tell the complete story of how we get to the end. It’s not a new formula, but given the number of characters in the movie and the secrets they have, it was the best way to tell this story.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the five friends and the different dynamic each wife brings to the film through their unique relationships with their husbands. I was drawn into everyone’s personality and was pleased how they played out as the plot and their specific stories were revealed.
I’m usually pretty good at figuring out who the villain is in a mystery, but another part of this process is figuring out the motive…and this is where the film gives you extra helpings of, motive…for everyone.
In the end, this film was entertaining enough to watch, but not good enough to watch again. The acting was good and the story was interesting, but the ending was very poor…especially considering the build up to reveal the truth. That said, this film was only able to hide two and a half cinnamon sticks, out of five, in my cup of tea.
Rating 2.5 / 5
When Luke goes to loft one morning and finds the body of woman chained to the bed, he calls the other four and kicks of a mystery that takes more turns than a roller coaster and has more twists than a Twizzler.
