Section B·Page 6
Thursday. August 24, 2000
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Plot suffocates in hollow Cell
By Brian Bartelt Special to the Kansan
Jennifer Lopez plays a therapist who enters the mind of her patient in The Cell. The movie opened Friday, Contributed photo
The Cell is interesting to watch, but it certainly doesn't add anything to the serial-killer movie genre.
Vince Vaughn (Swingers) plays FBI agent Peter Novak, hunting mentally deranged murderer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofroi of Full Metal Jacket). Novak tracks Carl down but finds him in a coma. Unfortunately, Carl's latest victim still is missing and has limited time before his automated death machine kills her.
In desperation, the FBI turns to Catharine Deane (actress/pop diva Jennifer Lopez), a therapist working with new technology that allows her to enter the mind of comatose patients.
As you might imagine, the mind of a serial killer is less than inviting.
It's also moderately gory, very strange and exceptionally vivid. Director Tarsem Singh (REM's "Losing My Religion" video) has an engaging visual style that translates well into The Cell, his first foray into feature film. It's truly remarkable to see.
Unfortunately, the stunning visuals have a meager plot to sustain them. Combine that with a few implausible jumps in the storyline and an abundance of acceptable yet cliched plot elements, and you end up with a mediocre plot.
The acting — sometimes bad, sometimes fine — doesn't do much to support or hinder the
story. Lopez, dripping with lip gloss, does a respectable job. Vaughn is flaky early on but settles into the role by the film's end. As it is, The Cell is like a full-size model of a Ferrari sitting in your driveway — it's awfully pretty, but it doesn't go anywhere.
— Edited by Chris Borniger
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