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Possession
(Reviewed August 9, 2002)
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The first and second halves work against each other, making for an incredibly frustrating whole, but "Possession" still gets points for making at least a partial effort to appeal to adults with brains. Gwyneth
Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart are "opposites-attract" academics in contemporary England trying to track down a Love Connection between a married Victorian-era poet-laureate and his hitherto unsuspected
mistress, a minor poet formerly assumed to be a lesbian. With that kind of pinkies-extended premise, director Neil Labute effectively kisses off 99.999 percent of the American market right from the git-go.
("Whut? No car chases?") Good for him!
Eckhart is an underappreciated American research assistant in London who unearths the initial evidence and enlists the aid of icy-hot British scholar Paltrow to help him shore up his theory. Both
are excellent in their somewhat stereotypical roles (Eckhart the scruffy and casual Yank who calls himself a "brush and flush" guy when it comes to sharing a bathroom, Paltrow the rigid no-nonsense Brit
who both literally and figuratively must be convinced to let her hair down). Sure, their "getting to know you" scenes are predictable, but their chemistry is convincing and so is their enthusiasm for their
quest. Also enjoyable are the flashback scenes of the two long-dead poets (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle) going through their own romantic paces.
The movie stumbles when Eckhart and Paltrow's first attempt at taking their relationship to the next level is mind-bogglingly aborted in mid-clench. That complication seems to occur merely to
prolong the romantic tension, but makes no sense in regard to what we have seen before. Later, the script's intelligence is subverted by a sitcomishly unlikely grave-robbing scene and an embarrassingly
soap-operatic climax.
But what the hell--even with its flaws, this is still the smartest romance an American studio is likely to release this year. Date flicks for grad students are damned hard to come by, so see this one
while you can!
Back Row Grade: B-
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