I have seen the original Best Picture winning film, but I saw it years ago and remembered little to none of it. The trailers for this film didn’t do a whole lot for me, but there were enough names involved in the film to make me want to see it. Sadly, it was something of a disappointment in most respects.

Writing: This is the area of the film that is the most disappointing. The narrative of the film is uneven, muddled and not particularly compelling. Of particular problem are character traits and motivation. One can never get a good handle on what some of the characters are supposed to be potrayed like - particularly that of Sean Penn’s high profile character. At different times of the movie, it’s as if you are seeing a different character entirely. Then there are many aspects of his life, and those most directly involved in his life that are either completely unexplained, confusingly potrayed or introduced in ways that either make no sense or have no pretext or explanation. Jude Law’s character is a bit better written, though some of the characters most directly involved with his character are nearly as muddled and unexplained. Then there’s the particularly distracting and annoying (and nearly pointless) use of voiceover randomly throughout the film - in ways that make it feel like it was somebody trying to cram in thoughts or narrative from a book.

Production: Filming and overall production is of adequate quality. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the filming or production, really. There are a handful of striking visual shots, to be sure, but those are the exception. Most of it is extremely by-the-book.

Cast: The cast is one of the stronger aspects of the film, and without them it would surely have fallen flat on its face. While a number of the characters may be poorly written, the cast does their best to make things work. Penn sure tries hard, and some of his efforts do pay off. Law slips into his role with seeming ease. And Anthony Hopkins fits his role like a glove. Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo are completely wasted, though. They get almost completely thankless material, and scarcely a chance to make an impact.

Music: James Horner’s classy music score is the true highlight of this film. It’s not particularly overstated, and it has some spot-on melody work and Horner’s trademark rich orchestrations. I will, however, stop short of writer/director Steve Zallian’s hyperbole, “the greatest score I’ve ever heard,” as he states in his somewhat embarrassingly naive liner notes on the CD.