Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Don't Seek Out 'Seeking A Friend'

A 70-mile-wide asteroid is en route to earth, and the last best attempt to counter it has failed. Also failing is the marriage of soft-spoken insurance salesman Dodge; the breaking news that the world will end in an estimated 21 days cues his wife to leave him on the spot.
And so begins the new film Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World.
The lead role of Dodge is played by the ever-likable Steve Carrell and he's teamed with the equally appealing Keira Knightley.
But they don't seem to work well together in this film. Yes, they do spend a lot of time cuddling as the days till the end of the world drift by but there's no real chemistry between them -- no heat, no passion.
Carrell's character is depressed' morose, listless. Knightley's character is wispy, flighty, capricious.
And of course the title already tells you how things turn out in this flick. Indeed, the world really does end and mercifully so does the movie.
I suppose you could call this a "dark comedy" or maybe even a dramedy but there isn't much here to laugh at and the drama suffers from continuity and logic problems.
Once upon a time directors like Blake Edwards or even Stanley Kubrick elicited guffaws as they depicted the most dire developments imaginable. But that doesn't seem to happen very much anymore -- not here, not now, not in this film.
Steve Carrell is one of my favorite actors so it pains me to have to tell you that 'Seeking' simply doesn't work.
But it doesn't, and it probably wouldn't have worked no matter the stars. It's just a bad idea that meanders sluggishly and winds up going nowhere.
Skip it.

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