Mary Reilly

I remember catching this one on a flight back from Calgary and thinking to myself I'm glad I didn't waste ten bucks to catch this one in the movie house which is odd as I always enjoy a John Malkovich film. Of course my problem here, or at least at the time was with Julia Roberts being cast as the title character an opinion I've since come to terms with. Roberts can act, doesn't matter if you like her or not, she has talent out the friggin' whazzo! Point is she is just too light for this role which of course is why she was cast but MARY REILLY would have worked SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better if it was just Malkovich playing the Jeckll/Hyde part surrounded by unknowns and this is where this film goes off of the rails. Between Glenn Close and Roberts MARY REILLY comes off as a bad Broadway play instead of the dark examination of a classic tale this could have been. The elements are all there, if you can get past the Hollywood A-listers muddling about and fucking up the atmosphere you may enjoy it.....otherwise stick to the Fredric March classic.