Jude Law could use a little Rogaine, but his acting chops in the new psychological thriller Side Effects make up for this slight but noticeable aesthetic blemish. The prescription pill takes center stage in this taut film, serving up a frightening scenario that could keep even the drowsiest Prozac user up late at night.
Directed by the recently retired Steven Soderbergh, Side Effects imagines the consequences that follow a psychological medication snafu. Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) is married to a recently released inside trader. Unable to mentally recover from the aftermath of his arrest, Emily deliberately crashes her car into a parking garage wall. Woken up by the happily-married psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Jude Law), Emily is abruptly put on a cocktail of psych meds. The drugs do little to alleviate her anxiety, so Dr. Banks prescribes Ablixa, an alluring new drug in the pharmaceutical industry.
After experiencing bouts of sleepwalking, Emily’s husband begins to worry about the continuation of her drug use. One of these sleepwalks has a tragic turn, and Emily and Dr. Banks find themselves in a whirlpool of legal troubles. As the plot thickens, the line between doctor and patient is blurred; the sane and insane become indistinguishable.
There’s not much material here that hasn’t been seen, but the characters’ dips into hysteria keep the pace steady and sustain the plot for the entire length of the film. It’s extraordinarily entertaining to watch Jude Law put on his best crazy face, and Mara was on-target playing the role of an indecipherable mental patient. Channing Tatum was the only actor who seemed out of place in the ensemble, but that’s probably because he and Mara had lamentable chemistry as husband and wife.
It’s a little disappointing to see a director as accomplished as Soderbergh round off his career with a movie that’s been done so many times before, but like Contagion, his style is apparent enough in Side Effects to overcome the tired script. The dim cinematography gives the film a palpably threatening atmosphere, mimicking the sort of shots you would expect from a typical David Fincher flick. Cutting out any room for extraneous sidetracks, Side Effects kept its pace tight without sacrificing character development.
One exceptionally weak point of the movie is its ending. Without getting into detail, let’s say it gets a little too M. Night Shyamalan-esque with an onslaught of “unforeseeable” twists. But hell, that’s what people pay for when they see psychological thrillers.
See this movie if you liked Shutter Island, if you like Steven Soderbergh or are just plain bored this weekend. If not, you’re not missing anything if you decide to pass on Side Effects. Sure, there are few grievances that can be directed against this movie, but like any cookie-cutter film, its lack of risk reaps few rewards.
