Tempo (2003)

The Worst Film Ever

Beautiful, moving film.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Melanie Giffith,(Sarah),"Tart",'01, played an excellent role of a very complicated gal with all kinds of mixed emotions about her life and her past relationships with men. However, Sarah is very much sexually involved constantly with Hugh Dancy,(Jack),"Shooting Days,",'05 who is very young looking and is a mixture of gigolo and con artist. There is wild graphics and great wild sounding music in the background along with a car chase all around Paris, France; which had me thinking about Princes Diana and her car crash for some unknown reason. Rachael Leigh Cook,(Jenny Travile),"My First Wedding",'04, plays a very young inexperienced American gal who left her family and got a job in Paris and happens to run into Jack; who manages to take her "CHERRY" away from her and she goes ballistic in Love with him and can't wait to get his clothes off whenever they meet. Melanie Griffith gave a great performance, however, her addictions have taken a great toll on her beautiful face, she is showing plenty of Crows Feet around the eyes and a burned out look.

In France, Sarah (Melanie Griffith) is a courier of illegal pieces of arts and antiques, living in a borrowed apartment with Jack (Hugh Dancy), a man younger and younger than she. While Sarah is traveling to Munich to bring a rare coin to the criminal Walter Shrenger (Malcolm McDowell), Jack meets Jenny Travile (Rachel Leigh Cook), a silly and irresponsible American girl, who works a fancy jewelery, and they have an affair. Jenny falls in love for him, and exposes the code and the secrets of the store to Jack. Meanwhile, Sarah is stolen in the train in her travel back to Paris, and has to raise US$ 80,000.00 in two days to pay for the lost. She convinces Jack to rob the jewelery with her to raise the money. However, things do not happen how planned. The premise of "Tempo"is not bad, and it could be a good thriller. However, there are many flaws in the screenplay. The character of Sarah is not well developed, and the viewer does not know why she has this type of life, their motives for such a dangerous work, and it is impossible to sympathize with her. Further, the face of Mellanie Griffith is completely destroyed after plastic surgeries, and affects her expressions. There is one site (awfulplasticsurgery.com) relative to awful plastic surgeries in famous people, and unfortunately the surgeries of Mellanie Griffith are mentioned there, showing her lovely and gorgeous face before the plastic surgery, and how she is now. I do not understand how a woman so beautiful like she was can be so deformed! With regard to Jenny, how such a stupid woman can work in a fancy place, being responsible for expensive jewels? How the store does not have cameras for surveillance? How can a woman work in such fancy jewelery wearing jeans, instead of elegant costumes? Rachel Leigh Cook is also horrible in this movie, with long curled hair and ugly clothes. The costume designers were very negligent with the character of Jenny. Last but not the least, the sexual attraction of two women for Jack is a key point in this story. However, the sex scenes are not erotic, and could be better and better. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Tempo – Um Questão de Sobrevivência" ("Time – A Question of Surviving")

The plot of "Tempo" sounded really promising, but the end result is quite frankly horrible. The acting on the part of Hugh Dancy is acceptable, as for Cook it is not up to the standard of her other performances. In all their character's relationship seems utterly unbelievable. Watching Melanie Griffith in Tempo though was a sad experience I could have done without. I remember her from films such as "Working Girl" were she was witty, funny and sexy. In "Tempo" she acts like she is wearing a mask. Her facial expressions are almost non-existent. Another fact that annoyed me with "Tempo" was the obvious lack of detail when it came to locations. The story is supposed to take place in Paris, why is it then that throughout the film, street signs are in German?? Even Munich does not look like Munich.

At first look, Tempo has the appearance of a low budget European or Canadian film. While there are some stunning shots of Paris, the overall quality of the film and its special effects are less than average. However, if you can get past that, you discover a great performance by Melanie Griffith. Although you know that you are not suppose to like her character, Melanie's quality of vulnerability has you rooting for her character. Her whispery voice is put to work here in which every man alive just wants to protect her. Her co-star Hugh Dancy also does well in this film and is very believable, while Rachael Leigh Cook doesn't fair so well. I just didn't buy the chemistry between her and Dancy. Although Griffith is old enough to play Dancy's mother, she had much more chemistry with him.While the film will never win an Oscar, and may be predictable, it is a great renter. In fact, what surprises me is something like Tempo doesn't get a theatrical release, but on the other hand we have to put up with garbage like The Guru.