Two Hours You'll Never Get Back

Casanova

Monday December 5, 7:00pm Pacific Place 11

Lasse Hallström successfully merges the decay and decadence of baroque Venice with MTV in his latest film Casanova. Exquisite locations, beautiful photography and Vivaldi on an endless loop are combined with the Farrelly Brothers brand of infantile sexual humor to bring the viewer a mind numbing one hundred eight minutes of something that is a combination of bad Masterpiece Theater and super-classy spaghetti sauce commercial. There is not the slightest hint of any real depth or eroticism in the entire film. A thoughtful and intelligent script includes gems like;
"It’s a man and you’re a whore."
"I’m an actress."
"What’s the difference?" and
"Heresy is what ever I say it is!"
Heath Leger’s performance in the 2002 remake of Four Feathers proved he can act. He is little more than an underwear model here. Hallström has directed several quality films. This is not one of them. Casanova is a dismal, two-dimensional teen exploitation film dressed up in the most beautiful location on earth with an enormous budget. What a horrific waste.
I bumped into Helen Loveridge after the film and she generously offered, "It could have been worse." I guess she has a point. Casanova could have been Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood or the DiCaprio – Danes Romeo + Juliet.