Uncertainty

David Siegel and Scott McGehee co-wrote and co-directed this strange drama that picks up the concept of the road not taken and stretches it to the fraying point. Canadian musician Bobby (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Broadway dancer Kate (Lynn Collins) meet up on the Brooklyn Bridge on the Fourth of July. The pair have been together for 10 months but are struggling with issues: Kate is pregnant and Bobby is unable to obtain a green card. Uncertain about how to proceed, the couple flip a coin and then each heads in the opposite direction—although, in the film's quantum mechanics “uncertainty principle” central conceit, each is joined by the other when they reach their respective ends of the bridge. On the Brooklyn side, Bobby and Kate go to meet her family in Queens, where the gathering is tense due to a family death. In Manhattan, the pair find a cell phone in a taxi and wind up in a violent chase with killers. The experimental nature of Uncertainty is unfortunately not helped by the extremes in both stories—heavy drama in Queens, absurd slam-bang action/adventure in Manhattan—nor by the directors' decision to let the cast improvise most of their dialogue. Not recommended. (P. Hall)