The Ghost Writer (Friday, April 30, 2010) (37)

I was a bit surprised that with all the press Roman Polanski was getting with being arrested in Switzerland recently there was not more attention given to him having new movie out, The Ghost Writer. Somehow this movie snuck up on me and I didn't really know it was a Polanski movie until a few people told me about it. Regardless, I was interested to see it not only because it stole its title from one of my favorite Philip Roth novels, but also because Polanski has had an interesting voice, at least in the past.

This film tells the story of a man (Ewan McGregor) who is hired as the ghost writer for the recently-retired Prime Minister of the UK, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), as he tries to complete his memoirs. It seems that his last ghost writer mysteriously killed himself a few weeks before. As McGregor sets into the task, he discovers more and more unusual stuff in Lang's past. As this is happening, Lang is being accused of helping the CIA torture terrorist suspects - a fact that makes the writing of the memoirs even more difficult.

Overall the story is rather straight-forward and silly. There are a few twists that you might expect from a film of this nature, but nothing is all that surprising. The big reveal at the end is rather dull and visible from miles away.

There is not really all that much here to be all that critical about. The film looks good and the story generally hangs together well and moves along well enough. I found it a bit dull somewhere late in the second act - but that's also not a surprise for a big budget film like this (perhaps the story could have been shaved by a few pages around that point).

The acting is good, but nothing really remarkable. Brosnan and McGregor are generally always good; Olivia Williams, as Mrs. Lang, is very good, I thought - and I look forward to seeing her in more stuff (she's got the more down-to-earth appeal of Liz Hurley, with a bit more acting chops). The one casting decision I was surprised by was Kim Cattrall in the role of the PM's chief of staff. She is really not a very good actor and I thought struggled through this role. Considering she was born in the UK and studied there a fair amount, I was surprised that she seemed to have trouble with the English accent she had. I don't know - too much sex in New York can take the Brit out of any woman, I guess...

One funny thing - which, again, I am surprised hasn't gotten more press - is that Lang is hanging out in the U.S. after he's been charged in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The U.S. doesn't sponsor this court and as a result does not extradite people to it. This of course is weird as Polanski has been living in France and Switzerland for 30+ years because they wouldn't extradite him to the U.S. to be charged for his statutory rape of a girl in the 1970s. I don't know if this was a thumb in the eye of the American judicial system or not - but it's an interesting real-world rhyme with the picture.

This is not a great movie - but not a bad one by any means. It's very OK. It's a clever ride and ties up nicely, if predictably. There's nothing particularly Polanski about this - it feels rather anonymous - but it's a decent effort nonetheless.

Stars: 2 of 4