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Urban Desires Movie Reviews

reviews by Jackson Armaly

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Gramercy Pictures Presents

SHALLOW GRAVE

Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor & Christopher Eccleston
in Danny Boyle's SHALLOW GRAVE

Anyone who has ever had to share an apartment knows how important it is to pick the right roommates. From the minor annoyance of leaving the toilet seat up to the more serious matters of death and dismemberment, making sure one knows one's roommates is not a matter to be taken lightly.

Unfortunately, the three roomies in "Shallow Grave" never really take the time to look beyond one another's surface hipness or realize that maybe shallowness has its limitations. Like, you would never know just what someone is capable of doing. And, they repeat the mistake again when they interview prospective new roommates which leads to the selection of Hugo. Whoops!

The film starts off on a fun note. There is some genuine wit in the script and the direction is crisp. The actors are as charming as their roles allow. These are not particularily nice people. But, do we really want nice people in these situations? They might do something heroic and that would ruin all our fun. For a while things are humming along rather nicely. Then suddenly, once things really get going... they fall apart. Plot devices become sort of half played out and fail to reveal character or move the story along. The violence becomes gratuitous, the film void of suspense.

Toward the end, the film recovers its focus a bit but the momentum has long gone and its intentions are unclear. Is it a psychological thriller or a stylish slasher movie? Or, most likely, somewhere uncomfortably in-between.