Micky Rourke (left) can't save Megan Fox's (right) uninspired performance in 'Passion Play.'
Micky Rourke (left) can't save Megan Fox's (right) uninspired performance in 'Passion Play.'
‘Passion Play’ review
Michael Leibner Contributor
After attending the world premiere of Mitch Glazer’s directorial debut, the romance-fantasy-gangster flick Passion Play, I can’t help but feel that TIFF Director and CEO Piers Handling gave the most impressive performance of the evening. In the presence of the film’s director and principal cast, Handling introduced the film with such enthusiasm and conviction in its tribute to love and fantasy that I actually began to think we might be in for an unexpected treat.
Come on, Piers. You had to know. Passion Play is so unrelentingly awful that the only conceivable explanation I can conjure for its programming is the added star power its premiere was certain to bring to T.O.’s red carpets.
Glazer’s film begins with Nate (Mickey Rourke), a lonely jazz musician with a past, narrowly escaping death after a spot of trouble with powerful crime boss Happy (Bill Murray). By chance he runs into the beautiful, lonely, winged Lily (Megan Fox), and the two proceed to fall in love as they are pursued by Happy amidst an increasingly illogical series of decisions and situations.
Let’s get this out of the way: Megan Fox is not an actor. She doesn’t sell her love-struck angel for even a second, but instead sucks the life out of every scene in which she appears, which is unfortunately the majority of them. Yes, she is attractive. This does not mean that she should be in movies.
Rourke gives it his all, but its tough to feel for a character whose actions make little to no sense every step of the way. And while Murray does elicit the occasional chuckle, it’s not nearly enough.
Meanwhile, the movie’s ideas about love have all the insight and maturity of a 14-year-old’s. It’s also incredibly dull.
I’d watch out for up-and-comer Handling as a future Oscar contender, though. You won’t see him on screen, but what I saw in his literally unbelievable praise of Passion Play was nothing short of a tour-de-force.
