The Proposition (1998)

Powerful

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

what my permanent vote should REALLY be....The plot is so far fetched in places, you really have to suspend disbelief. However, there is something alluring about the film. A lot of visual beauty in the scenes. Some of the script is good, and some of it not so good.....Major spoilers ahead:The film does gloss over very quickly the healing and "falling in love again" that occurs between Hurt and Stowe as husband and wife. It's as though Stowe and Branagh have a period of close friendship, then a very brief and passionate affair, and then in the next scene we are supposed to believe they got over each other almost immediately? There is no transition from THEIR mutual love to the renewed love and passion that Stowe feels for her husband, played by Hurt. And Branagh is not struggling with any lingering romantic feelings for Stowe? And he's happy to just be a priest and watch her raise his kid as Hurt's child? Well, I'm giving it a 7 at this juncture because it's worth seeing Kenneth Branagh at his physical peak. He's really attractive in this movie and what a voice! He's a fine actor even in mediocre or "fine but flawed" material. I wish they'd shown the sex between him and Stowe in a slightly LESS tasteful and delicate manner! For some reason, I felt Madeleine Stowe could have seemed more like a Boston, 1930s aristocrat. She spoke too fast and came across as a bit contemporary, perhaps too modern and casual for the part she was playing? it's hard to explain.....just a feeling. I'll watch it again and give her another shot. Hurt was very good I thought.Definitely a soap opera and the plot strains one's belief in places, but enjoyable overall. I'm still waiting for Kenneth Branagh to give a really bad performance. Don't think it is possible.

I was looking for the Australian western of the same name and the Sundance credits writer got it wrong and roped me into this 1930s Boston Catholic melodrama. I still want to see the western, but this was not a bad misdirection.Whoever cast A History of Violence had to see this film as William Hurt plays the same character in both films - marvelously, I might add. He is a rich Catholic businessman here instead of a mobster, but the basics are the same. He wants to give his wife (Madeleine Stowe in a great performance) a child and Viagra was not yet invented, so he hires someone (Neil Patrick Harris) to do the job. His only mistake was picking a 24-year-old who couldn't just take the money and walk away. OK, so we have a moral question here, but we ignore that for the movies sake.Into his parish comes a new priest (Kenneth Branagh) and he jumps the Rabbit-Proof Fence, uses The Magic Flute, and we have an Alien Love Triangle. Didn't Richard Chamberlain do that naughty priest bit in The Thorn Birds? There is a lot of Catholic malfeasance, guilt and remorse and penance and symbolism here, but don't let that turn you off as it doesn't interfere with the story. And, no children were hurt in the making of this film.There are some fine performances and an interesting story. You should check it out.

Though there may have been some inconsistencies to real life, I enjoyed the movie and so did my friends and acquaintances...I was taken by the snowball effect...though some scenes could have been done differently...I accept it for exactly what it is...movie drama, not real life...some scenes were predictable and some I never saw coming...I was impressed with the job interview...the job...and then the transition from BOY to MANHHOOD and then the snowball effect that changes the lives of all persons involved including the priest...for me personally...the movie was well done...I am sure it could have been better but so could every movie once it has been seen and critiqued...GOOD JOB!

All the cinematic fringe areas of this film are terrific, set design, costuming, hair, wigs and Kenneth Branagh, but what this film lacks is a stimulating plot, an appealing story line and enough electrifying dialogue to keep us awake.Confusion about who is the main character versus who is the film's antagonist forces us to close our eyes to ponder but since the dialogue direly needs a few more rewrite drafts before our ears unclog it's all just too much work.The acting is erratic at best. Up against the Shakespearian Kenneth Branagh William Hurt manages to stay afloat but Madeline Stowe sounds like she's screeching her lines most of the time.Considering the dialogue she's saddled with you can't blame her for being histrionic.Faced with the decision of going out or staying in the choice is obvious.It's a lot easier to stay home and do a crossword puzzle.