Review: In the Cut

When the severed body of a woman is found near her NYC apartment, creative writing teacher Meg Ryan is questioned by uncouth cops Mark Ruffalo and Nick Damici. Turns out the victim was murdered in the same bar Ryan had previously been to and glimpsed a couple in a compromising position in the toilets. Why was she at such a seedy bar? Well, she was meeting her serial killer-obsessed student (Sharrieff Pugh) there, that’s why (!). Ryan’s a bit reckless, clearly. She already has a mentally unstable stalker-ish ex-boyfriend (an uncredited Kevin Bacon) who won’t leave her alone, yet she openly admits to her half-sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh, quite convincing as a woman obsessed with a married man) that she flirts with her students (one of whom, as I said, has a serial killer fetish!), and it’s not long before Ryan and Ruffalo are rolling in the hay, too. At one point she also gets mugged while out at night. Meanwhile, there’s a sicko serial killer out there and Ryan begins to suspect it may be someone close to home who is doing the killing.

 

An interestingly downbeat vibe and good performances aren’t quite enough to compensate for a wonky script in this 2003 adaptation of the Susanna Moore novel by writer-director Jane Campion (“The Piano”). This “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” meets “Sea of Love” just doesn’t come off, I’m afraid, despite containing quite possibly Meg Ryan’s finest-ever performance. I’ve heard that the plot is meant to be irrelevant and that it’s a feminist movie about a romance/sexual relationship, but I’m sorry that just doesn’t wash with me. If you make a film (or book) in a particular genre, you’ve got to get the story and characters right first, then the themes and so forth. It doesn’t work, otherwise. That’s largely where this film falters, though it’ll certainly play better to female audiences than men (There’s basically no nice guys in the whole damn thing, really).

 

My problem with the plot is also a character problem, as they go hand in hand. Being a whodunit, basically, Campion (or perhaps Moore, whose novel I’ve not read) has no faith in their mystery plot, so in order to try and keep the killer/s under wraps, everybody in the film acts completely suspiciously, and not in a credible or organic way. No, every character acts ‘off’ in this film because they are either a) Guilty, or b) A red herring. The chosen guilty party (or parties) turns out to be a much better choice than any of the red herrings would have been, but I still feel like the story would’ve been a lot better if several of these characters weren’t so obviously just red herrings. I personally didn’t pick the culprit until towards the end when my number one choice was essentially ruled out, but it’s certainly not very difficult to work out, either (I was doing a lot more effective detective work than either Ruffalo or Damici, however, whose characters both seemed to lack urgency). Character behaviour turns out to be an issue throughout the film, actually. The main character very well played by Meg Ryan (in her best performance since “Sleepless in Seattle”) doesn’t remotely behave in a believable manner to me. This is a supposed college (Or community college? I could never quite work it out) educator who meets her students in places that no teacher would ever, ever do so. She also openly admits to there being a flirty back and forth relationship with her students. I know teachers have acted inappropriately of course in real-life, but Campion and Ryan never once convinced me of it here. She also plays a phone answering machine message of a very personal nature in the presence of a cop (and complete stranger). Nope, that I don’t buy in the slightest. I did, however, buy the idea of a writing teacher picking up jargon and any unusual words she encounters in life and writing them down. That would make sense for a writer, certainly.

 

It has been really well-shot by Aussie cinematographer Dion Beebe (“Chicago”, “Equilibrium”, “Edge of Tomorrow”). In addition to the good work by Ryan, there’s a really creepy, intense uncredited performance by the underrated Kevin Bacon. There’s really not a poor performance in the whole damn thing (Ryan and Jennifer Jason Leigh have great chemistry together, even if they look nothing alike), but there’s only so much the actors can do to lend credibility to a film that is otherwise seriously lacking in it. Campion (or perhaps Moore) has tried to dress up a genre movie, and in the process of doing so, has failed to get the basics right. It also doesn’t help that the characters are a pretty loathsome lot, to be honest.

 

The performances are terrific, the film is compellingly moody, but the script is deeply flawed. Also, for all the hoopla on its release, it’s not terribly raunchy or controversial, either. It’s sexual without being erotic, and aside from one brief hardcore insert (not involving the name actors!), nothing shocking in the slightest. It’s an OK but overrated in some quarters, though I get the feeling women will have a much different reaction to the film than men, perhaps intended by the filmmaker. So don’t just take my word for it.

 

Rating: C+