Rating: R
Genre:
Thriller
Theatrical Release: 12/14/2001(USA)
Release Date: 05/21/2002
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 135 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Not For Children, Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
A remake of the Spanish film
Open Your Eyes (1997), this
thriller from director
Cameron Crowe bears one of several discarded titles for his previous, Oscar-winning film
Almost Famous (2000).
Tom Cruise stars as
David Ames, a womanizing playboy who finds romantic redemption when he falls in love with his best friend's girlfriend
Sofia (
Penelope Cruz, reprising her role from the original film). Before that relationship can begin, however,
David is coaxed into a car driven by an ex-lover,
Julie (
Cameron Diaz), who turns out to be suicidal. Driving her car off a bridge,
Julie kills herself and horribly disfigures
David. Reconstructive surgery and the loving support of
Sofia seem to reverse
David's luck, but eerie incidents are soon making him question the reality of his existence and his control over his life, even while he is suspected of complicity in
Julie's death.
Vanilla Sky (2001) bears the expected
Crowe trademark of an obsession with recent pop culture and particularly
rock music, a more important element of the remake than the original film. That project's writer/director,
Alejandro Amenabar, crafted his own supernatural hit the same year with
The Others (2001), starring
Nicole Kidman, the soon-to-be-ex-wife of
Cruise.
~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide