Let’s start with the good. I’m just trying to get the difficult part out of the way.

It has a promising story that let’s you keep guessing who the killer is. Halle Berry, Giovanni Ribisi and Bruce Willis (that’s how the credits should line up) all did the best they could with Ribisi stealing the show most of the time. And that’s about it.

Now comes the easy part. This probably should have gone straight to DVD. But with big names under its title, I guess it’s fair to take a shot. But for those of us who took the time and paid money to go for it though, it wasn’t fair.

The plot tries too much to be clever that it’s missing the mark. The many twists and turns and a very, very slow first half just don’t take the viewers in, rather it leaves us wanting to get up and walk.

The director just couldn’t make this engaging enough for the viewers. This movie should have came out a decade ago together with Hackers, Anti-Trust and The Net when chat rooms were still a norm. You just can’t shake the feeling that this is an old movie that’s old enough to not be interesting in this day and age.

Halle Berry’s assets were once again exploited. But even her killer body, killer wardrobe and that killer face couldn’t save this movie. Her portrayal as a strong, independent female journalist living in the big man’s world just didn’t came through as believable – not her fault I’m sure.

Bruce Willis didn’t have much to do other than look good and possibly just be himself, probably enjoying himself throwing a guy literally out of his office.

But Giovanni Ribisi had the biggest role. Being the weird oddball that he usually is, he has made his character work here(or as much as he possibly could as some scenes were just plain weird even for Ribisi) and believable enough that you just might look twice at your office oddball.

This has been a very big disappointment coming from Berry and Willis. Whatever made them agree to work on this project is just beyond me. I seldom fail a Hollywood movie but this definitely deserves it.

Oh and watching this in the local cinema really pissed me off with the many interruptions due to censorship. If you’re going to make so many cuts might as well not bring it in!

Rating: 3 / 10

(all images from imdb.com)