CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN

Caught this movie on cable. I'd never heard of it. Probably didn't do so well, and I would guess because it's not the sweetest movie you ever saw (though it has many sweet moments), but it is original in its way and Helen Bonham Carter is at her most adorably yet realistically brilliant.

It's more of a romantic-tragedy than a romantic-comedy, though the tragic part isn't catastrophically tragic, just typically human. Unfortunately, Aaron Eckhart is in over his head. He's great at the lighter moments, and is always good as the straight man to other characters' sarcasm etc. but...the emotional depths he's required to mine he can't reach.

I suspect it was his bid for serious leading man stature, and may be one of the reasons he never achieved that, or not lastingly. But Bonham Carter is always incredible as an actress, and underused as a leading actress when she was in her prime. The character she plays here is beginning to reach that point beyond her "prime" and is achingly aware of it.

The story is clever, and the editing and film work original, creating a plot closer to a mystery story than a romantic one. It's in some ways a one-of-a-kind movie, telling the old boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl Hollywood storyline in a way I've never seen before. So it's worth watching for that. And, maybe you won't find Eckhart so bad, in which case you'll dig it even more.