Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.



Eyes. Eyes open. Shock. Alarm. Eyes open. Looking. Seeing. Eyes. Confusion. Eyes. Eyes open. Understanding. Learning. Eyes. Eyes wide open. Knowledge. Confusion. Eyes. Knowledge. Knowledge. Eyes. Searching. Learning. Disappointment. Eyes open. Knowledge. Knowledge. Knowledge. Betrayal. Disgust. Knowledge. Eyes. Eyes wide... shut.


If you’ve spent any time in the appropriate college courses, or in the appropriate beatnik coffee houses, you’ve heard a lot of similar silliness being met with hearty rounds of snapping fingers.

The concept of this movie falls right into the same category as the above silliness. Trying to be deep by being incredibly simple. This concept is not utterly flawed in itself. There is something to be said for a good Haiku. There is not, however, a good movie in it.

And, here’s the real beauty of the genius of Kubrick. You know that Kubrick is a genius, because if I really think about it, I don’t think this had any chance of being a good movie. The plot is too contrived, simple, and shallow, while all the time making it clear that it is trying to be extremely deep. Still, I found myself trying to think of ways the movie could have been good. And, maybe it could have been good. I don’t think so, but given certain things it may have had a chance. That is why Kubrick is a genius. If anyone else had made this movie, I don’t think I would even hold any hope of the possibility that it could be good. If anyone else made this movie, I think the best it could hope for would be to be seen as a movie making fun of itself.

Let’s go through the plot a bit. By the way, there isn’t exactly a plot to the movie in the way that it could really be ruined, so I’m just going to go through most of what happens.

Tom Cruise is a doctor. Nicole Kidman is his wife. They have a daughter. Now, the plot begins (if circles can be said to begin somewhere) when Tom and Nicole go to a party given by a rich friend of Tom’s. At the party they run into an old friend that Tom went to medical school with. This friend dropped out of medical school though, and is now a piano player.

Tom’s friend lets Tom in on this ultra-secret party.

Later, Nicole bares her soul to Tom during a fight they are having. Nicole admits that there was once a guy that she wanted to have sex with so bad that she was somewhat seriously considering having sex with him even though it would end her marriage. She didn’t, but she thought about it.

This drives Tom crazy and he storms off to wander the streets of New York. He meets up with a prostitute, and goes back to her place, but they don’t do anything either. Lots of not actually doing anything going on.

But, Tom hasn’t curbed his ire yet, and he eventually gets to this ‘secret’ party with some help from his friend the piano player. Everyone goes about in strange costumes wearing masks, and there are lots of naked women, and lots of people having sex in front of groups. It’s rather odd.


Naturally, the group discovers that Tom is not really supposed to be there, but not before a certain masked, naked woman tries to warn Tom to get out. His life could be at stake she claims. Tom is confronted by the group at large, and it is all quite scary. Just as Tom is about to be ‘punished’, up steps the masked woman to say that she will take his punishment instead. Tom gets to leave, but he is warned never to speak of anything about this little group.

So, cut to the chase, Tom’s friend the piano player turns up missing, the prostitute turns out to be the girl who took his punishment for him, and she turns up dead the next day. Tom’s other friend, the one who had the original party, turns out to be one of the people who was at the sex party, and he warns Tom again to leave well enough alone.

Now, Tom obviously doesn’t leave well enough alone, and goes about poking his nose in as it were, until finally, he finds his wife asleep at home with a mask in the bed next to her. Oh no! We are all terribly afraid to learn that this secret group has been able to get into his house and could have hurt his wife, but left him one final warning.

When Tom sees the mask he breaks down and tells his wife everything. One second later, we are fast-forwarded to after Tom has spilled his guts, Nicole doesn’t look so good, but they have to go and take their daughter shopping. At the store, Nicole forgives him for anything he has done, after all, she has had dreams about having sex with other people. All is forgiven, but Nicole says there is one thing they have to do as soon as possible (to make sure that their relationship is properly mended apparently), and what is that Tom asks..... Well, let’s say that Nicole says have sex, only not so nicely.

So, what we seem to have here is a sort of reflection on sex. It seems, according to the movie, that the basic idea is that there are two kinds of sex. There’s the making love sort of sex, and then there is the ummm... let’s say the animal sex (there is a convenient word for this which is used approximately 347 times in the movie). The point being, at least from Nicole Kidman’s characters’ point of view, is that you’ve got to have some of both.

Not a completely worthless point, and a point that could be the subject of a good movie, but this isn’t it. Like I said, the plot here is hopelessly shallow at its attempt to be deep.

The main flaw, if we can narrow it down to one, is that you just can’t believe anything in the movie. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman cannot pull off this movie. Kidman might have had a chance, but opposite Cruise, the two are laughable at best. You can’t believe Cruise in any aspect of the character. He doesn’t portray any actual turmoil. You don’t believe anything he says. When he cries you want to laugh. And, during the entire movie I just kept catching myself thinking there is no way this guy is a doctor.

His performance in this movie could be equated to a high school play. The only chance a high school play (or I suppose any play) has of being good, is if the actors are doing some serious acting. There are no flashy special effects happening to distract the audience from just how bad the acting is. Cruise doesn’t act here, he merely says lines. He slaps his hands together to show his angst, his anger, and his frustration, but he does it in such a choreographed, stale way that you can’t even believe that. He gives the sort of performance here that if he were to be in a scene beating someone to death, you wouldn’t be able to believe he was the least bit upset at the person he was pummeling.

But, Cruise isn’t the only problem. I didn’t believe anyone in this movie. Apart from their daughter, that is, who I was quite convinced was, in fact, a little girl. I didn’t believe the hotel clerk was a hotel clerk. I didn’t believe that Cruise’s doctor friend was a rich, doctor in a bizarre sex cult. I didn’t believe anyone was anything. I couldn’t even find a way to believe that the extras who were supposed to be shopping at the store in the final scene were anything but extras milling about for no purpose.

To add insult to unbelievability, the whole sex cult premise was too much. This cult, comprised of what we are led to believe are very rich people, will kill people to keep itself secret? Why is this exactly? Not only is everyone masked the entire time they are there, but they aren’t doing anything. What will Cruise uncover if he were to ‘talk’? That there are a bunch of people who put on their fancy dress once in a while in a big mansion and have sex? They aren’t sacrificing virgins or whatnot. What’s the problem? Not only is their activity not illegal, it’s not even newsworthy. What will Cruise do, go to the police? The newspapers? Expose these people? These scenes would have been interesting. Pfff. That again. Yawn.

The only possible reason these people have for killing people to keep their secret is that they kill people to keep their secret, which is to say, there is no reason.

All these problems aside, it is the sort of movie that leaves you feeling that it is a shame that it is so bad. It really looks good, and no matter what logic and common sense tell you, you can’t help but think there is a good movie in here somewhere. In fact, if you turn the volume all the way down and just watch, it’s probably a good movie. It’s probably a really weird movie, but that’s just the sort of level of cinematic art you’ve got working on your side here. It looks that good. Looks just aren’t enough to save this movie.

Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS