Rating: 
Summary: If it 'aint broke, fellas, don't fix it!
Review: I cannot believe I wasted money on this [poor] film. If you want to see something "brilliant", than get a hold of the original version of this film "Abre los Ojos" (which, incidentally, also stars Penelope Cruz in the role of Sofia)- it's much more raw and fantastical. "Vanilla Sky" is a sad American interpretation of a really cool concept- rich guy David(Cruise) sleeps with his friend Julie (Cameron Diaz) and she becomes a loon and stalks him. After spending the night (but not sleeping with) Sofia, David is confronted by Julie, and she coaxes him into the car. After chastizing him about the betrayl of sleeping with her without loving her, she drives them over the edge of a bridge. Are they dead? Who the heck knows!!! This film tries to be edgy and sci-fi, but it only comes off as annoying and . Crowe, whom I normally adore, should have kept out of this leaky rowboat- he wrote the screenplay to zip back and forth between reality(?), therapy, and dreams...we think. If I hadn't seen the original (and better) version of this film first, I'd have been totally lost.The acting left much to be desired- perhaps Tom Cruise was too busy cheating on his wife (don't tell me he wasn't!) with Penelope Cruz to pay attention to being a better actor. Whatever-all I know is, I finished watching this movie caring very little about any of the characters, and disliking Tom Cruise even more than I did when he ditched Nicole Kidman. Ugh- pass on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of time
Review: Vanilla Sky has glamourous actors doing glamourous things but in the end none of it matters. You'll feel like you wasted 2 hours investing in the lives of the characters in this movie because in the end you will find you have invested in nothing. A good twist to a movie validates all that comes before it. The twist in this movie only proves what a waste the entire movie is.
Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: It is amazing how two people can fall in love at a moments glance from across a crowded room. This is what happens when David (Cruise) meets Sofia (Cruz) at a party in his Manhattan mansion. Their love story is completely convincing. The dialogue is magical and memorable. They share the kind of night that only a few of us have had, but those lucky enough will never forget. After parting with Sofia on a 'high' from their evening, David makes the critical mistake of taking a ride with his suicidal psycho 'friend with privileges' played by Cameron Diaz. After a serious accident, we are left wondering what is real and what is dream, and what could be something completely different and in-between. The ending is clear, imaginative, and does not disappoint or leave loose ends. The acting is superb (Kurt Russel leaves something to be desired, but otherwise the performances are fantastic). The music is perfect (see it with good surround sound). The love story is intriguing (any man who can avoid falling in love with Penelope Cruz in her role is not watching close enough). And the sci-fi element is very well thought-out, and hinted at throughout the movie (you can even hear the 'splice'). This is a movie that you must pay attention to, but the ending is perfectly clear and very clever. Watching a second or third time is equally entertaining as all the layers of the film unfold easily and are very satisfying in their rich simplicity.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept, sub par acting, awful editing/directing
Review: VS was a huge disappointment. I kept waiting for something to happen. Cuts to the future (or was it the present time?) were so jumpy I thought the VCR tape was spliced. After 90 minutes, the only point in watching the rest was to figure out how everything was going to be tied together ... when it finally was I felt like the director was struggling to pull several disjointed plot lines together.
Since Cruise & Cruz became romantically involved off the screen, I thought they would have had more chemisty on screen.
Save your time & money for Minority Report.
Rating:
Summary: Insult to Vanilla.
Review: This is without a doubt the worst movie I've seen in recent memory. I watched it with moderately high expectations, but when it was over I felt I had wasted my money and my time. Without spoiling too much, it basically tries to answer the question, "Is life worth living if you can't be attractive?" and answers it with a resounding "No." I hate to give a disparaging review to anything (if you can't say anything nice...), but considering how ripped off I felt when I purchased this stinker, I consider it a moral obligation to share.
Rating:
Summary: A PATHETIC RIP-OFF!
Review: WASTE OF TIME! This is THE most BORING movie I've seen in 2002! It's so sad how the movie makers put BIG celebrity names, in a pointless, worthless, NO PLOTTED, stupid,totally confusing movie like this one, just to get our money! Not to mention, this movie is at least 2 hrs long, so if you have to use the bathroom, be sure to bring the tape WITH you for the garbage can! Don't waste 2 hours of your LIFE, on this rediculous excuse of a so-called movie! If some one HANDS it to me for FREE, I'd tape the ends, and record something else OVER it! YES, THATS HOW BAD IT IS!
Rating:
Summary: Miserably Inept
Review: Together, A.I. and Vanilla Sky make up two of the year's most annoying films--I wish I could come up with a better reason, but the truth is that they're just too damned out there. The film is something of a psychological thriller that later turns into futuristic science-fiction mush. The first act of VANILLA SKY is so thrilling that it's almost depressing to witness the rest of the plot collapse before our very eyes. I usually prefer an ambiguously messy film to a neat and tidy one, but I need some kind of definite plot points to base my opinion around--I need a frame of reference to build on. VANILLA SKY starts out a neat little thriller, and it's too bad that by the end the details of the story have been so mangled that we don't even care about the answers anymore, we just want to get the hell out of the theater. Ironically, it happens to be Cameron Crowe's best directed film; it's the first time he's really been cut loose, and it's a fascinating movie to look at. Tom Cruise is fair as a wealthy, successful hotshot who goes through so many different personality changes that it's a wonder he doesn't get whiplash. Penelope Cruz is yappy and irritating when she should be luminous. By default, Cameron Diaz is the most talented actor in the film; she's loopy, clingly, pathetic, and psychotic.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying film tries to be clever
Review: Let's be clear about this: for the most part, Vanilla Sky is an absolute bore. The characters lack warmth, the dialogue is dull, and annoying cliches are hiding under every rock. It tries desperately to be interesting and clever, but ends up merely pretentious and tedious. Viewers must wait until the last segment to find something of interest, but by then we have lost interest enough to cease caring. The final twist (remembering that every movie these days has to go one better than the last clever twist on reality) is fascinating enough, but comes too late to redeem a movie whose annoying 'pop' style and vacuous and lengthy meanderings ensure its failure.
Rating:
Summary: Vanilla Sky
Review: I was really looking forward to this movie coming out on
DVD. Boy was I disappointed. I understand what they were
trying to get across but I just did not think it was
entertaining. It was all I could do to not fall asleep.
The only reason I finished watching it was I kept hoping
it would get better. Needless to say it didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably awful!
Review: Ever watch a movie and you are completely dumbfounded, mouth hanging open? This is it. I didn't have high hopes for this film, and I have to say it was far worse than I thought it would be. This is one of the weakest performances of Tom Cruise that I have ever seen. It was like all the actors in this film were completely uncomfortable in their roles, and on the set. Total fakeness. It doesn't help that the dialogue is cheesy, [stuff]. The story is the most confusing aspect of the film, with flash-forwards, flash-backs, dream sequences, etc. that you just simply can not follow. Likewise, the twist at the end, if it is a twist, is mind boggling. You would expect a Cameron Crowe film to have great music? Not this one. Score (by Nancy Wilson) was very sappy, and the other music cues felt totally un-original, un-exciting and un-cool. I hate to say it, but this film is a total piece of [stuff] - worst movie I have seen in recent memory (along with Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes").
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