I admit that many romance-themed movies usually get to me. I saw "City Of Angels" back in 1998 and wept my head off at the corny ending at the end of that movie (unfortunately).
Since then I've found myself watching less romanced themed comedies or dramas and stuck with straight drama or action. As I surfed through the TV channels on a lazy night, I passed through the Sundance Channel (or IFC, one of those two) and saw Ms. Jessica Alba steaming it up with this blonde guy. I checked on the info to see what the movie was and it was "The Sleeping Dictionary".
Surprised as I was to see actual nudity (which wasn't hers as I quickly found out), it stuck on my mind. But it wasn't until just a month ago when I saw Ms. Jessica Alba in "Sin City" that I decided to give her other flicks a viewing. One of them flicks being this one.
This is an okay movie. Not much plot is revealed throughout the course of the movie so it's unclear what exactly the movie is trying to say. My summary of the plot? A young Brit goes to teach a bunch of savages the ways of the Western World and falls head over heels for the accent-broken, way-too-hot-to-be-true Jessica Alba on the way. It doesn't get much complicated from there, but it doesn't get any better either.
As great as Jessica looks, its her accent that kinda gets the best of me. Her East L.A. accent becomes "Asian" and she ALMOST pulls it off. Bob Hoskins and Brenda Blethyn are riots to watch! It's so good to see them on screen after having to watch mediocre scenes previous. Hugh Dancy (the main character and Freddie Prinze look-a-like) does the meek and fish-out-of-water act for almost the entire film and it STILL bothers me that this guy was able to score with Jessica.
It's great to see all the physical work from "Dark Angel" pay off in this movie. Whenever Jessica is in almost practically nothing, you can see those muscles on that body just ready to kick your ass. Okay enough about Jessica, lets discuss this film.
This movie tries to pull off the "forbidden by tradition" boundaries and kinda doesn't succeed. First of all, was it EVER a tradition for the native women to sleep with the foreigners just to teach them the language? That's the main plot that baffles me. The plot goes off into other directions (like the mining subplot) and it just kills the mood of the film. I wish I could explain more but it would only spoil it.
The only reason to see this film was to see Jessica's sex scenes. As steamy as they are, it's only shown in the middle of the film and that's it! The "forbidden by traditions" subplot kicks in and the film's plot goes haywire from there. Everything to the abusive bad guy to the "who's-baby-is-it-really?" subplot, it's just hard to describe what the plot really is.
BUT...that doesn't stop the film from being enjoyable in a way. I urge you to rent this film and watch it with a lady-friend. You may not like it, but it's a definite guarantee that she will. All in all, I only recommend watching this flick ONLY if you are a Jessica Alba fan OR if you want to romance your loved one with a typical romance film, this movie is great both ways.
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