Blind Date

A remake of a film by Dutch director Theo van Gogh (who was assassinated by a Muslim extremist in response to van Gogh's allegedly anti-Islam stance in his Submission: Part 1), Blind Date's appeal will depend on one's willingness to accept its quirky central conceit—namely, that a couple can try to repair their crumbling marriage by repeatedly pretending to be other people. Director/co-writer Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson play Don and Janna, who've been estranged since the death of their daughter (who supplies the ghostly voiceover). Responding to cryptic personal ads they leave for each other in the newspaper (“Man seeks aggressive woman,” “Woman, 40, seeks dance partner”), they meet periodically in Don's small cabaret-bar, each time playing a new character (she's a reporter, he's a blind man, etc.), in the hope that they can eventually cut through the pretense, confront the issues plaguing their real relationship, and find catharsis. Some of this is entertaining, even amusing, and Tucci and Clarkson are both fine actors. But the viewer is kept at a cold distance by dialogue and staging that are consistently artificial, talky, self-conscious, and arch. Nor does it help that the pair don't appear to actually like each other, regardless of what role they play. While the ending is meant to shock, many will just be glad it's over. Optional. (S. Graham)