August 2003

I went and saw Masked and Anonymous today. In some ways it was much better than I though it would be. In other ways, much worse. I can’t believe that in a movie with Bob Dylan portraying the main character, that his acting isn’t the worst thing in the movie. The film has one of the most impressive casts to roll titles in quite a while: Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Steven Bauer, Bruce Dern, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, Christian Slater and directed by Larry Charles. In a nutshell the blame for the failure of this film has to fall squarely on the shoulders of the director. It had the potential to have been really good. Instead it lacks direction and obviously so did the actors. If you’re a Dylan fanatic… What the hell, go see it. But you would be better off saving the eight bucks and just buying the soundtrack. In the long-run, it’s the most memorable thing about the movie. The sad thing about Masked and Anonymous is the fact that it could have been really great. The actors we’re in place, the script was salvageable and the concept was very cool. It’s too damn bad that we can’t forget that this movie was ever released and let the Cohen Brothers have a crack at it. For another interesting take on this move, I recommend this review. I kind of like this review too: “MASKED & ANONYMOUS is an exquisite work of unmitigated shit.” Link