Oddly, in a related note, the new McInerney book is meeting with critical praise, so go figure. I think that books by both authors resonated with me due to my life circumstances at the time of their bursting onto the scene. Please note, I do not include Tama Janowitz in that group.

Also, I often like movies that are not well received. For instance, the last one I liked that just about everyone hated was “Perfume.” I’ve been a long-time Tykwer fan, but I still haven’t made it to “The International.”

I couldn’t locate the anguish in anyone except the Kim Bassinger character. Take the death that kicks off the opening, for instance, the comment on the part of the characters is “It’s been a week already.” Honestly, Chal, had they all died in a fire half way through the film I would have been like “oh well.” The problem with making a movie that critiques/celebrates it’s characters lack of interiority is that there’s little reason to care about their fates. So there’s my Siskel to your Ebert or something like that.

The Wikipedia article on the film actually explained to me why I disliked it so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Informers_(film). Apparently it was supposed to be a light-hearted satire originally (complete with Vampires and zombies) and then they changed directors.