I Love Your Work follows actor Gray Evans (Giovanni Ribisi). In recent years his star has risen and his relationship with his girlfriend Shana (Christina Ricci) fell apart. He has married another actress, Mia (Franka Potente) but this relationship is already strained and Gray finds himself breaking from reality and seeing himself in the happier times with Shana. He also has developed an obsession with the idea he’s being stalked and gets arrested for assaulting the man he thinks is doing it. A chance encounter with a wannabe screenwriter working in a movie store, John Everhart (Joshua Jackson), and his wife Jane (Marisa Coughlin), further draws Gray out of reality as Jane reminds him strongly of Shana. Soon Gray becomes the stalker, himself, recording the couple from the building next door, even offering to work with John to get closer to Jane.
This film has a lot to say about celebrity culture, not much of it positive. Gray and Mia try to portray their relationship as being just like the average couple, yet their lives are sterile and devoid of passion. They never make love unless Gray is drunk or just after a fight. Their home is large yet filled with a lot of empty space. Mia never cooks so their home is really nothing more than a place to sleep. When interviewed about their life outside of acting, things quickly devolve into fighting, something caught by the ever present interview cameras and microphones.
Gray’s break from reality is depicted in several different ways depending on the context. Sometimes it’s a different color tone, sometimes black and white imagery like it’s filmed on kinescope. Often it’s presented as if it’s being seen by an audience on the silver screen, tied in to a film Gray and Shana went to the theaters to see together. These breaks come in three flavors. The most predominant of these are images of Gray in happier times out and about with Shana. Sometimes this is as simple as just holding hands and walking down the streets of Los Angeles. Other times it’s more intimate, holding each other on the couch or cuddling in a theater. Whether he is seeing legitimate memories or the scenes are made up in his head the film doesn’t explicitly say. Later he will be spying on John and Jane and see himself and Shana in their places.
Giovanni Ribisi is an ideal choice to play this character. He already comes across as a little left of center much like Jack Nicholson does in The Shining. However, outside of flashbacks that are all in his imagination, we never see Gray during a time in his life where things aren’t crumbling around him. Those mental flashbacks could very easily be painted with a rose tint, an idealized version of what things had really been like. This uncertainty, this unreliable narrator setup, makes those melancholy visions all the more potent. Ribisi’s performance aids that as he gets more and more disheveled and paranoid as the film goes on. He has an unhealthy look to him like he hasn’t slept for days.
The supporting cast is mostly serviceable here with a few exceptions. Joshua Jackson feels like he’s phoning in his performance. He is never convincing as the clerk who’s just met his matinee idol. Marisa Coughlin fares better but gets little to do but act flirty in a few scenes and scared in another. Vince Vaughn stands out in a couple of scenes by bringing a bit of manic energy and charisma. Franka, though, almost out-stages Ribisi scene for scene as the frustrated wife dealing with a husband who no longer seems interested in her. She acts as a foil to the young actor, handling the fame with more grace than him but also unable to keep things together between the two of them. Her expressions during the climax tell it all. Lastly, Christina Ricci playing Shana. Shana is a non-character and there’s precious little Ricci can do with that role other than to look lovingly at Gray, smile at the camera, and appear happy. It’s a walk-on role that was probably filmed in a few short days.
As a drama and as a psychological thriller I Love Your Work is a mess. It is shot in such a way as to muddle the story and make it confusing to follow at times. There is some satire about Hollywood life but it gets lost in the cacophony. There are some humorous bits, mostly surrounding a private investigator played by Jared Harris but it is fleeting, not nearly enough to elevate the picture as a whole. It’s a depressing film without a solid narrative to keep audiences interested and it goes down too many rabbit holes expecting us to willingly follow. A more competent director could have found a through line for us to follow but that’s not what happened here. What we got instead isn’t worth the amount of time the film expects us to invest.
Release Date: November 4, 2005
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Marisa Coughlin, Jared Harris and Vince Vaughn
Directed By: Adam Goldberg
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