PERSONAL EFFECTS

Aston Kutcher. Michelle Pfeiffer.Two of my most favourite actors in Hollywood put together in a supposedly romantic drama directed by David Hollander. I wonder why the last two movies of Miss Pfeiffer paired her with much younger stars (Michelle had the same role in her latest flick:"I could Never Be Your Woman). Could this be an effort to to compensate for her aging looks so that hey had to make the movie more interesting in terms of frames??.

I had big expectations when I saw the cover of he DVD..I thought it was one of the light-romantic dramas that these two, drop-dead gorgeous stars usually starred in. But as the movie continues, I got more and more bored and wished for the movie to end soon..The movie was so bland, the atmosphere so gloomy..Even the soundtrack sucks!!To make it worse, there's no happy ending to this sad movie (Andrew Wakefield, Aston's character got killed in the hand of Linda's (Michelle Pfeiffer) retarded brother!!..The performance of the ever-gloomy Kathy Bates surely didn't do much to the "commercialism" of the movie.. No wonder it went straight to the DVD store!!

I am starting to wonder whether the popularity of these two, once-major, class A- movie stars has taken a deep plunge in Hollywood. Why in the world did they even bother to accept these roles??

According some sources, the project would be based on Rick Moody’s story “Mansion on the Hill,” which is part of his collection “Demonology.”

“The Mansion on the Hill” follows the adventures of narrator Andrew Wakefield as he tries to come to terms with his sister’s death - she was killed in a car accident just before her wedding. Coincidentally finding himself employed at a ritzy wedding-planning business, Andrew alternates memories of the past with clunky product-speak descriptions of his job.

But on the plot of the movie offered on the official site of Voltage Films there is a romantic story between the star couple. So I guess it should be a free adaptation of the original relate.

The project was in gestation for at least three years, in 2004, David Hollander said he hoped to film “Effects” in Pittsburgh, but after he said even though it would be cheaper to make the movie locally due to currency fluctuations, the film’s cast and financiers demanded it film on the West Coast, Vancouver. David Hollander, director and screenwriter of the movie, is the writer of the CBS series’ The Guardian.

Below is the trailer of the movie: