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My Blueberry Nights

4/10

Stars: Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz

Director: Wong Kar Wai

'There's this story, it's been told before,' says Jones at the start of a film that marks her acting debut. You bet. But rarely as tediously as in this first American film from acclaimed Shanghai-born director Wong Kar Wai.

As it grinds along its ponderous path. you can at least admire the acting, all of which is good, from debutante Jones, through Law's best performance in a while, to a reliable portrayal from Strathairn, an alert peformance from Portman and a coruscating, if fairly brief appearance by Weisz.

All are on top form, yet it doesn't help an awful lot, as Jones, on the rebound, reels into Law's New York cafe and, even as he relates the stories behind the bunches of keys in a jar on his counter, into his heart. She goes off to Memphis, though, and into the mixed-up lives of estranged marrieds Weisz and Strathairn and gambler Portman.

It's all far too leisurely - and familiar. There's the seed of a good idea here, but it's fallen on stony ground.

David Quinlan

USA 2007. UK Distributor: Optimum. Technicolor.
94 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 19 Feb 2008