Incendiary

 (2008)

by Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Here's your recipe for instant cinematic genius: a melodrama about the tragic personal consequences of international terrorism - written and directed by the director of Bridget Jones' Diary. Oh, by the way - she has no previous credits for fiction writing.

The less said about this, the better. Watching this is like watching a fourth grade play about the holocaust. You have to admire the ambition and good intentions, but you have to look away in embarrassment when it descends into a cheesefest. The plot and dialogue are embarrassing enough, but the capper is that several of the sub-plots just seem to disappear in an abrupt ending. Did they just run out of film?

The history of the project has been riddled with tragedy. The novel, which is about a terrorist act on a 9/11 scale in London, hit the newsstands on the very day of the London subway bombings. Then the movie premiered at Sundance on the day Heath Ledger died. Given Ledger's status in the film community, his death would have been distracting enough if he had no connection to the film at all, but as it turns out, Ledger is the father of Michelle Williams' baby, and she is the star of this film.

Williams is the film's only real plus, but that's a substantial plus. I had no idea she had this kind of talent. Her performance is spectacularly good, as good as or better than the female performances nominated for this year's Oscar. She might even have earned that nomination because 2008 was a year with few spectacular scene-stealing performances, but Incendiary was not eligible for Oscar consideration. It screened at Sundance and Cannes and had a brief theatrical run in the UK in 2008,  but it never appeared in any theaters in the USA.


Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

C-

Awful misfire of a movie, but I graded it C- because people may be interested in the three great performances: one by Michelle Williams, the other two by her breasts.

 

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THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

No major graded reviews online.

THE PEOPLE

   
6.4 IMDB summary (of 10)
   

THE BOX OFFICE

Box Office Mojo.  The UK data: 16 theaters on October 24th. Total gross for that weekend: $30,000. The production budget was about ten million dollars.

NUDITY REPORT

  • Michelle Williams showed her breasts.

 

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