Subject: Review: Sliding Doors (1998)

From: Jamie Peck <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Jan 1999 06:23:06 GMT

SLIDING DOORS
Reviewed by Jamie Peck
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Rating: ** (out of ****)
Miramax/Paramount / 1:39 / 1998 / PG-13 (language, sexual content)
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow; John Hannah; John Lynch; Jeanne Tripplehorn; Zara 
Turner 
Director: Peter Howitt 
Screenplay: Peter Howitt
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Even the slightest kink in a person's daily routine can alter their 
entire existence, or so Gwyneth Paltrow learns from the mystical twists 
of "Sliding Doors." Her Helen, a harried London public relations 
executive, lives out two wildly different lives, both of which stem from 
whether or not she makes it onto a subway train one morning after 
getting fired. In Branch A, she does, arrives home unexpectedly and 
surprises her boyfriend ("Moll Flanders"' John Lynch) in the sack with 
his pouty mistress ("Basic Instinct"'s Jeanne Tripplehorn); in Branch B, 
she doesn't, and continues to live with the creep whilst he carries on 
the tryst behind her back. 

Great gimmick, mundane movie. Following this sensational intro, both of 
"Sliding Doors"' story tangents settle into the tedious complications 
and contrived crises that hamper so many contemporary romantic comedies; 
in fact, remove the delectable set-up and the fine acting of Paltrow and 
Scotsman John Hannah ("Four Weddings and a Funeral"), as a potential 
paramour for the newly-unattached Helen of Branch A, and this film has 
practically nothing. True to stints in past flicks, Paltrow shines 
brightly, especially here, while playing opposite the equally charming 
Hannah. Too bad the screenplay fails to give her an alter-ego who 
engages on pretty much any level. 

Still, it could be worse — it could be Branch B, which teams the already 
dull Helen with Lynch's scummy squeeze and Tripplehorn's just-as-scummy 
other woman. There's really nothing wrong with either Lynch or 
Tripplehorn's performances, parse — you get the feeling they're doing 
what they've been instructed by writer/director Peter Howitt — but when 
a movie like this doesn't even conjure up truly hissable antagonists, 
trouble can't be far. And as annoying as it is, Lynch's neurotic 
hem-hawing probably resides among the more lively elements of "Sliding 
Doors," if only because it's a near-perfect aping of Woody Allen — were 
Allen British and 30 years younger, of course. 

Let's at least give Howitt credit for keeping his dual tales straight 
and untangled, even as they overlap from one tedious scene to the next. 
His casting of the lovely always Paltrow is a definite asset — and 
permitting her use of the adorable Cockney accent she flexed in "Emma" 
is also a pro — but one wonders if such an interesting premise had to be 
squandered in service of such a uninteresting plot-and-character combo. 
By the time "Sliding Doors" reaches a weird conclusion that attempts to 
tie the two Helens' fates together, audiences will presumably examine 
their own Branch As and Bs, but maybe only in the sense of where the 
past two hours could have taken them.
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© 1998 Jamie Peck 
E-mail: [email-masked]
Visit The Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
"... When several hundred of [the roaches] crawled across Joe's face, I 
for one was happy to be sitting in the back row, lest a fellow moviegoer 
be moved to hurl." —Roger Ebert on "Joe's Apartment"