Side Effects. I made this a Soderbergh-takes-on-controlled-substances double-feature with Traffic. Hitchcockian psycho-thriller here. It gets too clever in the final act, but I like that you see new facets of these characters all the way up to the end. I think his understated style helps manage those swings. Soderbergh can be pretty overt with his themes, especially with some side characters that are basically there for social commentary. The leads are strong, though. I totally forgot about the intro and did the jaw-drop forehead-slap thing with the kitchen scene. Good soundtrack tends to linger and push things along, like in Contagion.
And now to catch up on rankings for all the Soderbergh movies I’ve seen:
- Haywire
- Out of Sight
- Magic Mike
- The Girlfriend Experience
- Solaris
- Contagion
- The Informant!
- Ocean’s Eleven
- Traffic
- Side Effects
- Ocean’s Twelve
- Ocean’s Thirteen
Seriously, what a great director. I don’t think you can credibly use the word “mediocre” or even “average” about any of those movies until you get down to number 10 or 11 maybe.
Mark Larson 