When Will I Be Loved (2004)

Steamy, but shallow

James Toback's When Will I Be Loved attains most of its notoriety due to Neve Campbell's uninhibited turn in the film. Campbell plays Vera; a pampered, sexually charged young woman living in a beautiful loft paid by her parents, who begins to feel underappreciated by her hustler boyfriend Ford (Fred Weller) and lashes out in one of the few ways she knows how to. Along for the ride is a wealthy, Italian, media mogul (Dominic "Uncle Junior Soprano" Chianese), who desires to spend a night with Vera, and makes an offer that neither Vera nor Ford may be able to refuse. While When Will I Be Loved offers some wonderfully filmed steamy scenes, the film is a sadly shallow, often floundering take on Indecent Proposal. Campbell is as gorgeous as ever, but her character is also the only one in the film that is the least bit interesting as well, not to mention the only one that comes anywhere close to being likeable. With appearances by Mike Tyson, Damon Dash, and Lori Singer (all of which portray themselves) that come out of nowhere, Where Will I Be Loved just falters. Worth a look for Campbell fans, but that's pretty much it. February 13, 2008

Neve, what were you thinking?

James Toback's 2004 film When Will I Be Loved stars Party of Five actress Neve Campbell in her sexiest performance to date. It makes little sense why she would refuse to break her "no-nudity" film clause for Robert Altman's The Company (2003), which she co-wrote and produced, only to break it a year later for this otherwise pointless film. Neve, what were you thinking?

Insofar as I can tell, Campbell's nude shower scenes (there are two) are the only reason why anyone would be drawn to When Will I Be Loved, a film which actually has very little to do with love or anything else. The film tells the story of Vera (Neve Campbell), a beautiful NYC twenty-something, who outhustles her hustler boyfriend, Ford (Frederick Weller), by having sex with an octogenarian Italian Count (Dominic Chianese) in exchange for a million dollars. Cambell has a few intriguing moments in the film, but is not convincing as a NYC libertine. The resulting film is neither Cassavettes, Sex and the City, nor Indecent Proposal. By way of contrast, Cambell does not use her breakthrough nudity role in this film in the same way Juliette Binoche used her breakthrough nudity role in Rendez-Vous. While Neve Cambell does great, twenty-minute nude shower scenes, I expect so much more from a movie experience. This film left me feeling empty.

G. Merritt January 8, 2008

not what i expected

This was a pretty intense movie. kind of different. jumped around alot but it was good. December 8, 2007

The "Belle de Jour" Syndrome

A rich, bored woman seeks "forbidden" thrills in paid liaisons, with tragic results. Uh, oh. This sounds like the Belle de Jour" Syndrome ("BdJS") movie. BdJS is characterized by: pretentiousness; lack of a plot; sneering at middle-class values; aimlessness; stilted dialogue; nihilism; poor writing; false titillation. An epiphenomenon of BdJS is classification of the movie by critics as "minimalist," which is a fancy way of saying empty, moralistic and with low production values.

The first major American movie to suffer from BdJS was 1977's "Looking For Mr. Goodbar." By 1977 there wasn't much shock and outrage left in pop culture to be mined out by the "forbidden" thrills of examining a generally sleazy lifestyle, but at least Diane Keaton gave it her best shot. By 1993's BdJS-infused "Indecent Proposal," no shock or outrage remained at all. By 2004, when this movie was made, the idea of sleazy "forbidden" liaisons was -- and is -- passé to the point of obnoxiousness.

Why is it that no one ever seems to think past the title "erotic thriller"? Think about things like plot, characterization, acting? Oh, the awful effects of BdJS.

Pretentiousness. Oh my goodness. The annoying chamber music, coming in and out as subtly as a slap on the rump. The pseudo-intellectual banter. The glasses of red wine. The modern art. At one point Ms Campbell states to her Italian suitor: "I'm not impressed, either. I'm intrigued." I'll do you one better. I was neither.

The false titillation. When I saw "In the Cut," another BdJS movie, I was both enervated and repulsed by just about everything except Ms Ryan, because at least that movie actually showed Ms Ryan's body. Not the case with "When Will I Be Loved?" The vaunted shower scenes actually reveal quite little, and what they do reveal is over in a flash. The same-sex love scene was performed behind a gauzy curtain, and was remarkably chaste, much to the chagrin of my prurient and adolescent mind. I couldn't even tell if it was really Ms Campbell or a body double.

After watching movies like these I always recite to myself a line from Full Metal Jacket. "I think you've been cheated!" Gunnery Sergeant Hartman at one point barks to a new recruit. Yes, Gunny, I know.
October 15, 2007

Bad DVD quality

The picture quality is very bad. Very dark and reddish color. Story is very simple and boring. Needs patience to finish the movie. The beauty of Neve Campbell is also not appreciated/presented properly here. October 7, 2007

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