The Ghost Writer

*** - This was one of those movies which was nicely filmed, had a decent plot, added in a little mystery and intrigue, and featured fine acting from an excellent cast, but all that good stuff just didn’t add up to an entertaining film for some reason. I can’t quite put my finger on why it ending up being not as good as it should have been other than possibly its slow pace and extremely stuffy British feel. Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams and Tom Wilkinson all do an outstanding job with their roles, and Kim Catrall – apparently taking a break from constantly talking about sex in that god awful, horrifyingly shallow, estrogen-spewing woman show she was on – was even halfway decent in her supporting role as Pierce Brosnan’s assistant, despite her phony sounding English accent. The plot meandered a little, and didn’t seem to really decide which way it was going until well over an hour into it, which probably didn’t help combat its inability to maintain my interest. In addition, the end didn’t have the impact that I think it was trying to have, while also not tying up the loose ends that opened up earlier in the film. I had a lot of ‘why’-based questions that went unanswered. I hate to be too hard on it, so I’ll give it three stars, even though that is probably extremely generous of me.