Breaking and Entering

In writer-director Anthony Minghella's (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) latest, Jude Law stars as Will Francis, an architect specializing in urban renewal whose new London office is burglarized by a teenage thief. When Will learns the identity of the robber, he doesn't inform the cops, but instead becomes romantically involved with the boy's mother (Juliette Binoche, as a Bosnian refugee), until being confronted with a choice of either letting the robbery slide or confirming the young man's guilt at the cost of destroying his own home life (with his longtime live-in girlfriend, played by Robin Wright Penn, and her autistic 13-year-old daughter) and his mistress' chances for happiness. Obviously intended to be a well-intentioned Everyman, Will is a confused fellow with a social conscience who's acutely aware of his own failings, and—thanks to his relationship with Binoche's character—the miseries experienced by refugees. It's noble to want to say something about the social and economic disjunction between the First and Third Worlds, as well as between the gentry and the struggling poor in Western democracies, but although well-meaning, Breaking and Entering is a drab, unaffecting combination of unrealistic drama and muddled didacticism, difficult to connect with on either an emotional or an intellectual level. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Anthony Minghella, a 13-minute “Lie. Cheat. Steal. Love.” “making-of” featurette, six deleted scenes with optional commentary (9 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)