Clean Details

Maggie Cheung Rules.

This is a well acted and emotionally charged film. It tells the story of a woman trying to change her ways after a drug fuelled lifestyle lost her everything. To get her son back she must prove she can stay 'clean'. Maggie Cheung is pure class, with Nick Nolte providing solid support. This is an arduous journey, but well worth it in the end. How can a film that uses obscure Eno songs in the soudtrack be bad?

[Highly rated reviewer]

A bad film nearly saved by Maggie Cheung

Possibly Maggie Cheung's last film (excepting her minor role in 2046), which makes this worth watching for that reason alone. Having said that, and despite winning the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 2004, she gives a surprisingly uneven and generally unconvincing performance as the widowed wife of an aging rockstar, battling her own addiction demons, career problems, and a fragmented relationship with her son.

It's not really Cheung's fault, though. The script has every cliche you can imagine thrown into the mix, and every potential chance for a twist to the tale is signposted in neon lights. The characters are flat, the dialogue predictable and the story hackneyed. As an example, the first couple of scenes focusing mainly on Emily (Cheung) and her husband (James Johnson), feature some of the most wooden acting and silly dialogue possible. Still, it does improve from this dreadful start, but it doesn't get a whole lot better.