MOVIE REVIEW: The Nines

When being asked what we were going to the cinema to see by various members of our friends and family the reply was simply "The Nines," to which we'd be greeted by confused expressions and this exchange: “The What?” “It’s got Ryan Reynolds in it,” “Who?”

Ryan Reynolds' career has hardly taken off and with Van Wilder, Blade Trinity and The Amityville Horror remake under his belt it's not hard to see why. The man clearly needs a hit and with a back catalogue of romantic leads and action men personas that he flexes his shiny forehead into, it’s surprising that we’ve come out of The Nines thinking this low budget indie flick might be the thing to thrust him into superstardom.

Describing the plot of The Nines without ruining the plot is like explaining contraception to Britney Spears, so here’s Wikipedia’s synopsis:

"A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed video game designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways."

Nice. It’s not too much to say that Ryan Reynolds plays all three of the central characters and its surprising that he manages to bring to the different characters' quirks and personality traits that sets each one apart from the last.  

As the film jumped along on its merry way twisting and turning at various points, we were surprised; firstly because we managed not to be physically sick from mental exhaustion, but also because you actually care about Ryan Reynolds' characters. Are we really looking at the same goon who gurned his way through Van Wilder? He really does a tremendous job in this film with a lot of the thanks going to the writer/director John August, whose own personality you get a real feel for throughout the film.

This film should come with a disclaimer though! If you have that annoying special someone in your life who asks you the stupidest questions in the simplest of films then do not take them to see this movie.

We could now talk to you about the pros and cons of the film but that would ruin some of the best bits and spoil the enjoyment that you’re sure to have if you go see this movie, so instead let’s all cast our minds back, Scooby Doo style.

There was a time when a little known actor by the name of Jake Gyllenhaal dragged himself and his overly-complicated name into a small indie flick by the name of Donnie Darko. We went to see the film on opening week and it had a giant bunny in it so we loved it, it was also funny, intelligent and original. The thing was, nobody had heard about the film or went to see it! It felt like it was ours and nobody else knew about it, something we’d always keep for ourselves, our secret love.

Two years later, though, everyone and their greengrocer was going around talking about it. It felt dirty, it was ours and all of a sudden everyone was bragging about it, it felt like it’d been sleeping around behind our back. We were heartbroken; we never thought we’d move on. “The first cut is the deepest” they say and films came and went without even a hint of what we felt then.  

Alas though five years down the line something strange has happened. We’ve got that same feeling we did upon first seeing Donnie Darko; it’s new, exciting, something different again. The Nines has shown us that there is hope. Waking up this morning after seeing it we couldn’t get it out of our head, it refuses to let you, we feel like we’ve been lit up again inside, it could be love?

Everyone we’d like to share this with you, go see it now, be one of the first, who knows we may be the only ones who stand for this sort of great cinema. Although as the saying goes, “once bitten twice shy”, don’t be afraid if two years down the line to hear everyone talking about this and a certain Mr Reynolds getting the spotlight, a treatment that they both deserve.  
 
[story by David A. Scarborough]