Intervention

The addicted porno actor and producer Mark (Rupert Graves) is brought against his will from London to the rehab clinic Vista Clara run by the psychologists Bill (Colm Feore) and his wife Kelly (Andy MacDowell). Mark is addicted in drugs, booze and sex, and joins a few other junkies; when the treatment requires the presence of their families, the clinic invites Mark's wife Jane (Jennifer Tilly) while Mark sends a private invitation to his girlfriend Pamela (Donna D'Errico). The triangle of lovers brings friction between the women while Bill and Kelly have also problems in their relationship. After a fire, the truth about love and commitment is disclosed in Vista Clara.

"Intervention" is an awfully boring film that wastes the talented performances of a brilliant cast with an absurd screenplay. The premise that an adult man can be forced to travel from London to another country, be interned in a rehabilitation clinic and face his wife is so ridiculous that it is impressive that there are viewers that enjoyed this flick. I have no basis in psychological treatment to analyze the treatment they are submitted that also seems to be absurd for a layman like me. The fire situation and the conclusion are also pathetic. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Fora de Controle" ("Out of Control")

Essentially, what we have here is almost two hours of ridiculous psycho- babble, or - when the participants are actually doing something as opposed to just talking - psycho-clowning. It certainly doesn't make for a very good advertisement for psycho-therapy. To be blunt, I'm not even sure exactly how this got started. Mark somehow gets convinced to attend an "intervention" which leads to him being checked into some sort of rehab clinic along with a bunch of others. Then, when the story picks up, it's family encounter day or some such thing, where everyone gets to invite one member of their family to work with - except that Mark invites both his ex-wife and his girlfriend. Not much worked here. The therapists (played by Andie McDowell and Colm Feore) struck me as being as much in need of therapy as anyone else involved with this. A shame, really, because both McDowell and Feore are pretty good actors, but they were wasted in these ridiculous roles. There's a certain degree of guilty, voyeuristic pleasure as we watch these people try to sort out their problems and lash out at each other while doing so. What there's not is any sense that you're watching a well put together movie or a well developed story. Eventually, the whole thing ends rather abruptly after a fire strikes the rehab facility and there's a predictable but quite unrealistic reconciliation that takes place as a result. To be honest, it seemed more like a 60's-70's group encounter session more than an "intervention."

a strange movie. for the story without roots or sense. for the desire to say profound things using, in not inspired manner, stereotypes. but the great sin is the cast. the waste of time of viewer is small front to presence of real good actors in a chaotic film. and that is the awful part because it represents the use of cheep solution for few crumbs of success. the idea could be not bad but the script is out of reason. the pieces from Bergman , the psychology as ingredient in huge dose, the talks without basic axis, the images in waves - skin without body are pillars of the film. and that is all. but, I hope, Rupert Graves or Andie Mc Dowell are too different by the characters universe.