New this week on Amazon/Prime is a very odd science-fiction love story starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek.
Wilson plays Greg Wittle, a man who is struck by a series of bad luck. He and his wife have recently divorced and he’s stuck in a job he hates. The movie starts with him in his office, totally removed from reality, and making drawings of his fantasy house and the world he dreams of going to.
After he’s fired by his boss, Greg goes into a fit of rage and pushes him backward where he strikes his head on a desk and dies. Greg hangs his boss in the window by his shirt’s cuffs. He then flees the scene, heading across the street to have himself a drink.
There he meets Isabel, played by Hayek, who convinces him that she has special powers and the world they are living in is not real. She takes him to her home under a bridge, where they develope a romantic connection — and acturally travel together to a different world.
However, what makes them go to the parallel universe is a crystal drug, so it’s hard to decide if they are actually in a different world or just hallucinating from the drugs.
Writer and director Mike Cahill seems to be trying to make a statement with Bliss. But, rather than making a straight-ahead science fiction movie, he gets bogged down in the “what ifs” of the fantasy world. I often had a hard time figuring out what exactly was going on.
Wilson and Hayek are great as a couple who seemingly become soulmates. The movie also has some great special effects and lighting techniques that I enjoyed. But that’s about all the highlights the movie has to offer.
Bliss is streaming now Amazon Prime, free for subscribers. The film is rated “R” with a run time of 1 hour and 43 minutes. On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate the movie a MEDIUM.
