AmateurMovieReviews.com

I am a big Meg Ryan fan and have to admit that I miss the kind of sweet, romantic comedies that she's best known for. Remember back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when she was in a string of successful movies such as Top Gun, When Harry Met Sally, Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle, and French Kiss? But it seems that these days she's not getting those same types of roles anymore.

As for the subject of this review, I completely missed In the Cut when it was released in 2003. In fact, I had no idea that this film existed until I saw Meg Ryan's name on the DVD box at the video rental store. I didn't even read the description of the movie before renting it. Ryan's name was enough for me, so I rented it believing that I was in for an entertaining evening. How wrong I was!

First of all, In the Cut falls into a dubious genre known as the "erotic thriller." I'm not sure what the official definition of that term is, but after viewing the movie my guess is it just means the filmmakers decided to throw in lots of sex scenes in an attempt to bolster a boring plot. Because that's what we get in this movie, and it's really quite graphic at times.

The basic storyline is that Meg Ryan plays a high school (or college? That wasn't quite clear to me.) English teacher named Frannie Avery. She is working on a project that requires her to be up to date on the latest slang terms used by young people, and for this she enlists the help of one of her students, Cornelius Webb (played by Sharrieff Pugh). Frannie and Cornelius meet in a bar one day to exchange ideas, and while at the bar, Frannie inadvertently walks in on two people engaged in an intimate act in the club's basement. She stands there long enough to notice that the woman has long blue fingernails and that the man has a 3 of spades tattoo on the inside of his wrist.

Later on, a cop comes to Frannie's door. His name is Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) and he's investigating a murder that took place near Frannie's apartment. He questions Frannie, but she doesn't have any helpful information. While Malloy is there, Frannie notices that he has a 3 of spades tattoo, just like the one she saw in the basement of the bar.

As the film progresses, Frannie and Malloy start seeing each other, which leads to a lot of complications. For instance, Frannie's half-sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) ends up as another murder victim, and since Malloy was the only one besides Franny herself who knew where Pauline lived, Franny starts to suspect that Malloy might be the killer. The third act of the movie deals with the revelation of who the killer is.

I have to admit that I was pretty shocked to see Meg Ryan shed her girl-next-door image for the Frannie Avery role in this movie. Don't get me wrong: I'm all for actors stretching themselves and trying out different roles. How boring would it be if everyone played the same character all the time? So I quickly got over my shock and just tried to take in the Frannie Avery that was presented.

I actually think the two main characters in the movie were pretty interesting. Frannie, Malloy, their baggage, and their relationship, would have been a great subject for a movie -- just not this movie. I couldn't shake the feeling that they didn't belong in that plot. They seemed to be outside of the events that were happening, rather than directly involved in them, which made for a pretty strange movie to sit through.

Overall, I thought In the Cut had some terrific elements and could have been a good movie. But the way it was put together and the way it was shot (some people have said the cinematography was the best part of this movie, but I didn't think it was all that great) just didn't appeal to me. In the Cut apparently generated a lot of hype when it was first released, but the final product doesn't live up to the buzz.