THE GOLDEN BOWL

2001

For those of you who are staying away from "Pearl Harbor" because you've heard that it's all action and no story, you might want to consider this other film, also starring the ubiquitous Kate Beckinsale. "The Golden Bowl" is all story and no action...and it's as boring as watching hair grow! I'm a big fan of the films of Merchant/Ivory/Jhabvala ('The Remains of the Day," "A Room With A View," "Howard's End," "The Bostonians," etc.) but this one is definitely not from their top drawer. Maybe it's the fault of the book, by Henry James, which is all implicit action, introspection, and impossible to read without wanting to do damage to yourself! Or maybe it's just that "the team" is tired, but the film, in spite of an excellent cast that acts its heart out (Kate Beckinsale, Nick Nolte, Uma Thurman, Jeremy Northam, Angelica Huston,) there's little interaction with the audience. Who cares about these boring people? The story involves two young American women in the early 1900's, one of whom marries the poor Italian prince whom the other one loves, and the other who marries the other one's billionaire father; get it??? Gilbert and Sullivan would have done it justice!

2 Stars

NJB