Don't Believe the Hype

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Admirable film.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This film is about a young woman trying to find out what really happened to her elder sister who was found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Portugal.I was hoping it to be a touching and engaging movie. I just expected something better especially when Cameron Diaz is in it. Unfortunately, the plot is slow and fails to engage at all. Jordana Brewster's emotions seems shallow and even restricted. I did not really care about any of the characters either, as they all seem irresponsible and dispensable. In such a plot and character driven film, such flaws are fatal. Hence, even the good lighting, cinematography and amazing European scenery cannot save this film from being a waste of time, and money.

'Just watched this film last night. With a cast like Danner, Ecceleston and Diaz I'd expected something better. It is mainly the direction and lack of story development that stand out like a bruise. There are wonderful location shots of both America and Europe but what use is all this if the film itself is weak? With the story idea it could have been much more engaging. The whole love angle between Brewster and Ecceleston's character was irrelevant. The two actors hardly have any chemistry. The scene where Brewster hallucinates her sister behind the door just create unnecessary deviation. Alright, her character sniffed some coke but how did that fit in with the rest? Talking of performances, Cameron Diaz stands out. One wonders why she doesn't concentrate more on such roles rather than starring in non-funny toilet-humoured comedies. The actress proves that she can take on a serious role and is wonderful. Her scenes are worth watching and she's the only character we can sympathize with. Ecceleston, though a very good actor, his role seems to lack something. However, he and Diaz do share a good chemistry. Brewster isn't convincing at all. Blythe Danner does well in a small role. So what do we get from this film? Nice shots of Portugal, Holland, France etc, a great performance by Diaz and...that's it.

In the early 1960's, two sisters are growing up. Faith is the elder of the two and is the apple of her father's eye – listening to all his talk of art and freedom, while younger Phoebe is given less attention. When their father dies, Faith takes it the hardest – near comatose at first but then getting into any revolution or cause that the period allows her to support. Heading off to Europe with her boyfriend, it is only a few months before her death brings even more pain to the family. Older now, Phoebe decides to use her sister's daily postcards as a guide and follow her footsteps around Europe to try and work out what happened to her.With a quite famous cast, I decided to give this film a look but found that despite the professional sheen on it, this isn't that good a film. The plot is too unlikely, unconvincing and delivered in a phased manner that doesn't really work. Phoebe's journey is pretty unnecessary and her reasons for it didn't make a great deal of sense; it relied too much on some form of mysticism that it never earned (or kept consistent). The truth behind Faith's death unfolds but it does it in a lazy way – Wolf just keeps revealing a bit more every here and there, why he suddenly feels he has to tell things that he had secret two minutes ago is not clear but the film uses it to keep things moving. Meanwhile, in flashback, Faith's story is unconvincing – she is naïve, stupid and her political journey comes across as nothing more than the rebellion of any teenager.It didn't help to have Diaz playing the role because she can't go beyond the character's surface and just ends up with a very basic performance that never got close to the sort of emotional turmoil that would have been needed to make a convincing Faith. Brewster is much better although it would have been a nice touch to cast two actresses that look like they could have at least come from the same family. Brewster has plenty of clunky lines to deliver but does reasonably well and she is allowed to nail Faith's character bang on the money at the end. She also has a good chemistry with Eccleston, which helps to cover up for the fact that the romance between them is a bad idea that didn't work that well. He is interesting enough though and shows he is a good actor by making more of the material than was on the page. The direction makes the most of nice European locations but it totally fails to capture a sense of time – apart from some haircuts and costumes there is very little to tell you when the film is happening and, even if you know, it never feels like the period it wants to be of.Overall it feels interesting enough and has emotional moments and nice touches in it but generally it doesn't work because the writing is poor and cannot make the story work; like another reviewer has said, it comes across rather contrived. The performances from Brewster and Eccleston are both better than the material but Diaz is too weak considering the weight she is asked to carry.

i must say that this movie had a great cast, locations, music and camera work. Cameron Diaz was great, she had a very exciting roll, very uproarish, while Jordana Brewster had a serious roll yet still capturing one. for me Jordana's very nostalgic, she reminds of a female classmate of mine! what realy got me in this movie were the very skillfully planned camera work and the choosing of the locations. the story is very talently written. it is a must see one. the one's who are into mystery movies should watch this one, i guarantee you all that it'll keep you in your seats till the end.