Don't let the presence of Bill Pullman (Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, Singles) fool you; this is no breezy romcom. Not by a mile.
Based on a famous opera (in case you don't already know which one, I won't tell you because that might ruin the story), it's a pretty clever modernization. It begins innocently enough like a good dark comedy, but almost immediately you start to pick up cues that the director is trying to unsettle us. Scenes of New York City are shot from low, wide angles creating a claustrophobic effect. Most of the story seems to happen at night in shady places or in the dark, ominous halls of the sleazebag corporation where Rick works. All of this offsets the comedy which is rife in the first half.
But if you're expecting a comic morality tale like "Scrooged" or "Groundhog Day" or even "A Christmas Carol", you'll be in for a few surprises. First of all, the choice of leading actor Bill Pullman is a puzzler. We're supposed to hate him, right? How can we possibly hate the eternal good guy "Walter from Sleepless in Seattle"? The answer is we can't. And I believe this casting choice was intentional. In the DVD extras the filmmakers say it's much more complicated than bad-guy-takes-his-lumps. Instead they create a complex protagonist who is evil but not without just cause. This complicates matters as we become sympathetic toward him. The experience can be very emotionally draining, but that's why I think this is a good film.
An outstanding performance from Agnes Bruckner as the daughter, as well as great supporting roles from everyone involved, keep things moving at a somewhat fast pace. You barely have time to notice the great architecture and powerful sets featured in the film, not to mention all the literary allusions and little winks at the audience (for example, notice how the phone number on Buck's business card keeps changing).
As far as creative retellings of classic stories go, "Rick" is a winner. Other good ones include "The Claim" (a wild west adaptation of the Byron poem "Ozymandias"), "Dolan's Cadillac" (based on Stephen King's rewrite of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado") and--a bit of a stretch but--"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", a kick-butt retelling of Moby Dick.
