Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsMeh.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2016
I watched "Closer" hoping to be titillated while smartly exploring the characters' complex relationships.
I was disappointed.
Sure, mildly sexy. Attractive people, and often great dialogue at the outset. But as credits rolled I felt a disdain for all four of them. There was nothing smart about them. Complex, sure. But despite the confidence exuded during the "pick up," they slouched into extremely immature reactions when confronted with disloyalty (potential or realized). The responses of the men, in particular, were the types we shake off and evolve from in our early 20s. You're going to drill your lover about every gruesome detail of her tryst? Pointless, small-minded, dark-hearted jealousy. At some point in our lives, we realize we've made our own missteps in pursuit of emotional and physical fulfillment. Knowing some very private things often does more harm than good. And then we grow. We learn to search out people who judge us as forgivingly and compassionately as we prefer to judge ourselves. The realization hits you: "She's got a past, so do I. No one is perfect. I only need to know what's going to affect our future."
*-Personal note: In my dating years, I would always ask women about their number of lovers after we had become intimate. I'm not sure why I felt the need to know. Maybe to make sure I wasn't bedding a 'rescue project.' But I will always appreciate one certain older woman who touched my face, smiled beautifully and said, "You really don't want to know that." It sounded scary at first, like she had something to hide. But her reply encouraged me to compartmentalize that insecurity of mine. And she did it so beautifully, so gently. Because of her, I began to trust my other (better) instincts of judging potential mates.
In "Closer," I thought the men were poorly portrayed as weak and juvenile. The women were shown to be vulnerable, flighty, and incapable of commitment. And all four continually looked to the other side, at the "greener grass," that they longed for not matter how wonderful their present situation. And everyone flipped out at perceived slights.
Not a smart look at a complex situation at all.
Set your standards higher.
