A dying woman, an unredeemed man, a waste of time

Review: 'Sweet November' a sour month at the movies

February 16, 2001
Web posted at: 4:36 p.m. EST (2136 GMT)

In this story: Miscasting and dumb writing Getting worse all the time RELATED SITES

By Paul Clinton
CNN.com Reviewer

(CNN) -- In his 1922 poem "The Waste Land," T.S. Eliot said "April is the cruelest month." He never saw "Sweet November."

Yes, this is another sappy story about a dying woman, in this case played by Charlize Theron, helping to redeem a shallow man -- Keanu Reeves -- incapable of having a relationship. Yawn. Beautiful and sexy -- and not a bad actress to boot -- Theron tries mightily to bring this insipid movie to life. But she's beating a dead horse. A horse named Keanu Reeves.

Miscasting and dumb writing

To say he's miscast is the understatement of the year. Reeves attempts to play Nelson Moss, a workaholic advertising executive living in San Francisco. Moss spends his days trying to come up with cute slogans aimed at selling overpriced consumer goods to an unsuspecting public.

Theron stars as Sara Deever, a blithe spirit who meets Moss while taking a driving test at the local Department of Motor Vehicles. After getting kicked out of the exam for being suspected of trying to help Moss cheat, she suddenly shows up in the parking lot sitting on the hood of his car.

(How did she know which car was his? Good question.)

She attempts to pick him up to no avail. The next day she shows up at his apartment building.

(How did she know where he lived? Good question.)

Out of nowhere, and with no motivation whatsoever, she proceeds to dog him to death about moving in with her for the month of November and promises to change his life for the better. She tells him, "You live in a box. I could lift the lid." He says no. After all, he has a career and a girlfriend. Next scene. He loses his job and his girlfriend. How convenient. How hokey!

VIDEO Movie trailer for 'Sweet November' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MORE REVIEWS Van Wilder High Crimes Big Trouble Panic Room Blade II Ice Age Showtime Time Machine We Were Soldiers Queen of the Damned Dragonfly Iris John Q Big Fat Liar Collateral Damage Monster's Ball Slackers Birthday Girl Monte Cristo Mothman Orange County Charlotte Gray I Am Sam Gosford Park Black Hawk Down Ali Kate & Leopold Shipping News Jimmy Neutron Joe Somebody Beautiful Mind The Majestic The Lord of the Rings Lantana The Royal Tenenbaums Vanilla Sky No Man's Land Affair of the Necklace Enemy Lines In the Bedroom Spy Game Sidewalks Harry Potter Shallow Hal Man Who Wasn't There Heist Amelie Focus Domestic Disturbance Tape Monsters, Inc. Life As A House My First Mister K-Pax From Hell Riding in Cars Last Castle Mulholland Drive Bandits Serendipity Joy Ride Training Day Don't Say a Word Zoolander Hearts in Atlantis Glitter Liam The Glass House Hardball The Musketeer Rock Star O Bubble Boy Jade Scorpion Corelli's Mandolin Apocalypse Redux Now American Pie 2 The Others Osmosis Jones Ghost World Rush Hour 2 Jackpot Planet of the Apes America's Sweethearts Jurassic Park III Legally Blonde The Score SongCatcher Cats and Dogs Scary Movie 2 crazy/beautiful A.I. The Fast and the Furious Dr. Dolittle 2 Atlantis Tomb Raider Swordfish Evolution Worst That Could Happen? Pearl Harbor Angel Eyes Shrek Calle 54 A Knight's Tale Mummy Returns About Adam One Night at McCool's Town and Country The Claim Freddy Got Fingered Bridget Jones's Diary Joe Dirt Along Came a Spider Blow Tailor of Panama Someone Like You Heartbreakers Say It Isn't So Enemy at the Gates The Dish Blow Dry 15 Minutes The Caveman's Valentine The Mexican 3000 Miles to Graceland Monkeybone Sweet November Hannibal Shadow of the Vampire The Gift Snatch Chunhyang Finding Forrester O Brother, Where Art Thou Thirteen Days Before Night Falls Vatel The House of Mirth Traffic Malena An Everlasting Piece All the Pretty Horses Miss Congeniality The Family Man Cast Away Chocolat What Women Want Emperor's New Groove Crouching Tiger,  Hidden Dragon Proof of Life Vertical Limit Dungeons & Dragons Unbreakable Quills 102 Dalmatians Just Looking What's Cooking The 6th Day The Grinch Bounce Boesman and Lena A Room for Romeo Brass You Can Count on Me Men of Honor Red Planet Little Nicky Wonder Boys Legend of Bagger Vance Charlie's Angels George Washington Lucky Numbers Blair Witch 2 The Yards Pay It Forward Bedazzled Lost Souls The Contender Billy Elliot Dr. T and the Women Requiem for a Dream Meet the Parents CyberWorld 3D The Broken Hearts Club Girlfight Best in Show Beautiful Remember the Titans Into the Arms of Strangers Under Suspicion Woman on Top Dancer in the Dark Crime and Punishment in Suburbia Duets The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack Bait Almost Famous 'Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God ...Be Back by Five' The Watcher Nurse Betty Whipped Love and Sex Bring It On The Crew Art of War The Cell Original Kings Of Comedy Autumn in New York Tao of Steve Cecil B. Demented The Replacements Wonderland New Waterford Girl Hollow Man Space Cowboys Coyote Ugly Criminal Lovers Saving Grace Nutty Professor II What Lies Beneath Loser The Wisdom of Crocodiles Chuck & Buck X-Men But I'm a Cheerleader Blood Simple Scary Movie Disney's The Kid Trixie Rocky and Bullwinkle Sunshine The Perfect Storm The Patriot Me, Myself & Irene Chicken Run Boys and Girls Shaft Titan A.E. American Pimp Gone in 60 Seconds Passion of Mind Big Momma's House Mission: Impossible 2 Small Time Crooks East Is East Dinosaur Center Stage Battlefield Earth The Big Kahuna Virgin Suicides Gladiator Me Myself I Time Code Where the Heart Is Frequency 28 Days U-571 Joe Gould's Secret American Psycho Keeping the Faith Here on Earth Rules of Engagement Return to Me Romeo Must Die The Road to El Dorado The Ninth Gate Mifune Waking the Dead Beyond the Mat Erin Brockovich You be the critic! Recommend a movie on our message board

Getting worse all the time

It gets worse. It seems she has a man live with her every month, no strings attached, while she makes him a better person. Please! He moves in for just one night -- which turns into days, which turns into weeks.

What follows is a string of Kodak moments masquerading as a movie plot. They get a puppy. They romp in the park. The play hide-and-seek. They befriend a lonely fatherless boy in the neigborhood. They kiss. They cuddle.

It's enough to gag a horse.

Wedged into this "plot" is Sara's upstairs neighbor, Chaz, played by Jason Isaacs -- who wowed audiences as the evil Colonel Tavington in "The Patriot." No danger of him doing that again in this flick. Popping in and out of Sara's apartment offering sage advice, Isaacs' character is suddenly revealed to be a drag queen for no apparent dramatic reason, in a hideous scene which belongs in another movie -- a bad movie, perhaps even as bad as this one. But another movie nonetheless.

In the final reel -- not that there's much to give away, since you can tell the ending from watching the trailer -- Sara, cough, cough, gets sick and reveals that she is dying. Her man-of-the-month scheme was designed to keep romance at bay, but she really fell in love with Nelson.

Cut to Sara walking off into the sunset. Reeves attempts to look like he cares. Roll credits. Gag.

This script, by first-time scribe Kurt Voelker, is based on a 1968 screenplay by Herman Raucher, which was made into a film with Anthony Newley and Sandy Dennis. It has not improved with age.

Adding insult to injury, director Pat O'Connor cast Reeves as the leading man. Reeves may be a star, but he also displays a remarkable lack of acting talent. The only time he's any good at all is when special effects are the real star of the film -- i.e. "Speed" (1994) and "The Matrix" (1999).

As a special added reason not to see this film, Reeves sings a love song -- if "sing" and "love song" are the proper terms. But there's not much proper to say about "Sweet November" in the first place.

"Sweet November" opens nationwide on Friday, February 16 and is rated PG-13.

'Sweet November'

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.