Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I first found out about Sliding Doors when I heard it mentioned on the director's commentary from Run Lola Run, which of course is my fifth favorite movie of all time. I looked up the plot summary online and was intrigued. I wondered why I hadn't heard of this film earlier. Then I watched it, and within the first few scenes I realized why I had never heard of it. Simply put, it's not very good. But you know me; once I start something, I always try to finish it.Also, my girlfriend and I were fighting at the time that I watched this and she was mad at me in the other room, so I didn't want to move from my spot on the couch. I guess I could have put something else on, but maybe I felt I deserved to be tortured for a little while for upsetting my sweetheart, although I still maintain that she was probably just as much to blame as I was for whatever we were fighting about, which I can no longer remember. In any case, I watched it all the way to the end, including the credits because sometimes there's a skit afterward.The film is about a year in the life of an Englishwoman, played by an American actress, who gets fired from her job and takes the train home. Or does she? We see two possibilities of what could happen in her life depending on whether she catches the train on time or misses it by just an instant. It shows us two different outcomes of a seemingly trivial daily occurrence, something we never get the chance to see firsthand in real life, although we can imagine all we want.This premise of exploring alternate paths of fate seems fairly unique, but it's not totally original. We've seen it done before in 1987's Blind Chance, and infinitely better in the aforementioned Run Lola Run. But here the filmmakers could have had so much more fun with it. The plot is weak, despite the interesting premise. It feels like a typical, boring, forgettable romantic comedy and we almost forget about the whole double vision aspect. It feels like the writers wrote one draft and called it good enough and didn't try to make it any better. But it could have been so much better.This feels like the type of low budget, quickly-made British film that you'd find packaged along with five others you never heard of—all of them just as forgettable and of equally below-average quality—on a "UK Cinema" DVD for $4.99. Because that's the only way to market them on home video because none of them would sell individually. And even if you do end up buying the lot, you'll never end up getting around to watching more than two or three of them, and those only when you're in the mood for a "so bad it's good" laugh on a rainy Friday night, and always with the assistance of alcohol.In Sliding Doors the dialogue feels cheap and corny. Everyone speaks in phony, hackneyed expressions. All the characters talk more or less the same, with Gwyneth Paltrow delivering lines that seem more suited for John Hannah's character, but the writers probably stopped caring. The one saving grace is the acting. It's not the best acting I've seen, but it's not bad, especially considering the film's other shortcomings and bland pacing. That's another thing: the pacing. The film always moves at a consistently medium pace, which just feels so boring and not quite right.But back to the thing I was saying about the acting. The rest of the film is so bad that the acting actually seems really good in comparison, despite the fact that it is probably just average. It makes the film watchable and kept me from giving it a lower score. John Hannah—in one of the few roles in which I've seen him portray a leading man—almost makes us believe that he's just a quirky character who actually talks that way, rather than just a victim of bad writing.And the perpetually annoying Jeanne Tripplehorn appears here in the role she was born to play. I didn't like her in The Firm and I didn't like her in Waterworld. And I didn't like her in Sliding Doors, but for the first time I feel she was cast appropriately. In the aforementioned films I felt like the filmmakers made a casting mistake or maybe their first choice had to drop out. But in Sliding Doors we weren't supposed to like her. I don't think. It's hard to tell, but I think she's supposed to be an annoying pest of a mistress as well as a villainous type, comparable to Cruella De Vil and infinitely dumpable by her browbeaten boyfriend. And she knocks it out of the park! Man, she was obnoxious in this movie!And who would date her, you ask? Must be some loser of a boyfriend, right? Yes, he is, played quite well here by John Lynch, whose character is a bit of loser who cheats on Paltrow with Tripplehorn. He would be the bad guy if we didn't feel so sorry for him. He's a victim too. And yet we still believe that this pathetic fellow could potentially be with both of these women because, well let's face it, Paltrow isn't much of a catch either. Lynch's character is one we've seen many times before, but rarely quite so well as here, despite the poor dialogue and story structure. Lynch does a great job at making the character believable—like a real person you might know in real life—and I feel the filmmakers lucked out with him.I'm rapidly approaching my word limit, so I gotta go, but I will say that after getting out all my thoughts on Sliding Doors, I've decided that maybe I liked it a bit better than I originally thought. Maybe.

Sliding Doors (1998): Dir: Peter Howitt / Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Zara Turner: Interesting technique deteriorates into two boring stories upheld only by the presence of Gwyneth Paltrow. The title represents choice or fate. Gwyneth Paltrow is positioned in two parallel stories. In story A she catches a subway train and arrives home to catch her boyfriend cheating. In story B she misses the train and arrives home only to suspect foul play. Great setup faulted with sitcom situations but director Peter Howitt has fun with interesting locations. Paltrow is fantastic playing someone at the mercy of either deceit or luck but either way weighs her options after losing her job. John Hannah as her friend is standard and unsympathetic. John Lynch plays her ex-boyfriend who is a jerk whether caught cheating or plainly being deceptive. Jeanne Tripplehorn plays his mistress who predictably makes things worse becoming nothing more than a parody fatal attraction gimmick. Zara Turner has a useless role as the female whom Paltrow moves in with and that is about the extent of her role. It addresses fate and the choices we make, which is fine in itself but perhaps one choice viewers can make is to avoid this contraption. As for Paltrow, hopefully she can apply her talent to films where the doors don't slide on the screenwriters. Score: 5 ½ / 10

this movie contains so much cliché.. incredible. Just because of the interesting idea of showing 2 parallel versions of her life, and the fatality that they come together anyway, i am giving 2 points...and this is actually why I chose to watch this one and give it a chance. Even if the title does not necessarily sound so, it is such a romantic flick.. incredible..Gwyneth paltrow is meant to be super cute, she makes her cutie face as well as her sad sad girl-face all the time, so you just have to feel compassion with her situation... her new lover is more of a sick stalker spider who cathes her in his net, and all the lucky and unlucky situations that occcur in the movie are just so stupid... incredible.. After a couple of minutes of watching, you exactly know what is gonna happen, I only did not expect her to die and the repeating scene in the elevator... everything else is predictable...

Very well made with a nice witty script and a decent pace so it doesn't get bogged down too much. It does look slightly dated though, but that's mostly to do with things like fashion and technology.I must admit I did find the premise of this film quite interesting; how just a couple of seconds at a crucial moment can make drastic changes to a life did intrigue me. I did enjoy the way it was done but ultimately it is about feelings and relationships which is fine as far as it goes. It did leave me with a few questions by the end and I see that as a good thing; there were certain things open to interpretation and any film that does that is always going to be worth a look, in my view. I will admit I did enjoy it up to a point; I found the characters quite engaging, there is some great dialogue and I even recognised one or two of the tunes! Over all, worth a look but I feel its one of those I'll only watch once (although I've been wrong about that before).SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDEDMy score: 7.2/10You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.