A good movie

Since I always had a weak spot for Michael Winterbottom's work, I was really eager to check this movie. Well, even though I actually liked the damned thing, unfortunately, like most of Winterbottom's other movies, it still turned out to be rather half-baked. First of all, the guy has tackled so many genres and, this time, he went for a film noir and really nailed it. Indeed, it looked fine and the mood was just spot-on. Then, Casey Affleck, one of the most interesting actors at work nowadays, gave another strong performance, he basically carried the whole thing on his shoulders and his character was just spellbinding to behold. I must admit that I was also quite impressed by Jessica Alba who gave here one of the very few interesting performances in her otherwise seriously boring career. And, yet, in spite some very strong potential, it still didn't completely worked, I'm afraid. Indeed, basically, there were too much stuff in the story that didn't really add up. For example, it didn't make much sense that Elias Koteas's character, who was just some union guy, would keep playing the detective like this. Then, in the 3rd act, the whole thing started to make less and less sense and the ending was pretty much ludicrous. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still liked the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

7/10