Closer or Further? 3.5 Stars

Closer is creepy and honest in the way your still-single chain smoking auntie is creepy and honest; with a cynical heart, and clipped words. Most of the movie revolving around the failure of relationships, the subsequent breakup, the arguments, the betrayals - like watching a year of Coronation street in fast forward. But it's not all that bad - there are some great scenes -- as when Clive Owen follows Julie Roberts around his apartment asking her piercing questions about her affair albeit with hypocritical abandon; watching Natalie Portman amazingly dynamic acting skills, and amazingly dynamic bodice; watching Owen breaking Jude Law's heart with unflinching, but warranted, menace; and others. Jude Law is a little Shakespearian bitch (you know - those guys who talk to their hearts) - and it's only possible to sympathise with him if you forget that he's the cause of his own woes. Julie Roberts, although a strong actor, mopes around this movie like a cardboard, trying too hard not to overtake the film and to understate her performance. This movie comes across as urban professional movie, almost an inverse creation of 'Love Actually' - 'No Love Actually'. Have you ever played 'The Sims' on the computer? I think if the Sims were a tad more aggressive and urban they'd all talk like this. But after all this - I still think it's worth watching - there are worse movies to be had, and I enjoyed watching their IKEA walls come crashing down.