I'm not really sure how I feel about this movie. I did like it, but I'm not sure I'd call it a good movie. It has moments of humor; the kind of humor that makes you ashamed to be human. It has moments of deep pathos. The actors all do excellent jobs with their parts. Charlize Theron is the only actor who could pull off the lead role without you completely despising her. The dialog and story are both smart and well paced. It is all eminently believable.
Yet, I found it hard to really get involved in the movie. Partially this has to do with the fact that for most of the movie you really think you have seen it before. Deeply flawed character finds redemption through the love of a person they would normally scorn. The fact that the roles are reversed should be a glaring sign that you are not in standard Hollywood tropes, but that is easy to misinterpret as just a nod towards modern gender equality. It isn't until the very end of the movie, that you realize how far from the tropes you have wandered. By then it is a little too late to reclaim a home audience that is easily distracted by e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook.
In final analysis, I applaud the darkness and subversiveness of the film. I just wish it had placed the hook a little more firmly from the get go. When the plot heads off into the woods, I wouldn't have been checking to see if my friends had tweeted anything over the interweb.
