Expect some unwanted side effects in Soderbergh’s ‘Side Effects’

As Steven Soderbergh winds down his cinematic career, he leaves us with an interesting Hitchcockian thriller. Side Effects feels like the end result of a skilled master, but after closer scrutiny, the narrative falls apart into many inconceivable pieces. The movie is one of the rare examples of individual parts being much more effective than the total sum.

Rooney Mara plays Emily Taylor, a young woman with several obstacles in her life. Her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) is about to be released from jail after getting caught in an inside-tradiing scandal, and her clinical depression is creeping into her brain, making daily life more difficult to handle. Her only solace is the prescriptions offered by Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law).

The problems don’t end there. (Spoiler alert!) The drugs apparently make Emily act out fantasies while sleepwalking. She cooks meals effortlessly and kills Martin just as effortlessly. When she comes to, she has no idea what just happened.

Arrested and facing life in prison, Emily reaches out to Banks for some expert advice. But the good doctor isn’t so good in the prosecutor’s eyes. His own practices and prescriptions are being scrutinized. Throw in Catherine Zeta-Jones as a competing doctor who once treated Emily’s illness, and you’ve got enough plot for two movies, let alone one.

The problem with Soderbergh’s film, utilizing a script by Scott Z. Burns, is not the atmosphere or acting. Throughout the entire duration, there’s a great feeling of claustrophobia and tension, and the actors work hard to feed this paranoia. Mara is subtle and reserved, while Law is frantic and facing pressure from all sides of his life.

The problem is that everyone in the film seems so busy, not because their characters call for such busyness, but because they’re trying to draw the audience’s attention away from the obvious holes in the story. It would ruin many of the surprises to reveal where Side Effects goes wrong, but trust me, start to ask questions about motives and occurrences, and this diamond looks a little rougher under the microscope.

Story is important when storytelling, but to let that story take the characters hostage feels like a disservice to an otherwise fine creation. Soderbergh knows how to keep the melee interesting and engaging. There’s never a time during Side Effects when one feels bored. But just because something is presented in a slick manner doesn’t mean it holds up well.

It’s interesting because Soderbergh’s Contagion suffers from a similar issue (it was also written by Burns). It’s a quality film that begins to fall apart after the audience turns on their collective brain. For some reason (and this likely has more to do with personal preference), I forgive Contagion because the characters and paranoia prove far too palpable. Yes, they are living in unusually far-fetched circumstances, but the end of the world should be so chaotic. In Side Effects, it’s tougher to allow such an artistic license. When so much time is taken to build up real characters, give them real jobs and real problems, display their real emotions, and make us feel real feelings about their frailties, it becomes deflating to see them operate in a world that just doesn’t make sense. How can we question the motives of characters who essentially are constructed as convenient plot contrivances?

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Side Effects

• 2013

• Directed by Steven Soderbergh

• Written by Scott Z. Burns

• Starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones

• Running time: 105 minutes

• Rated R for sexuality, nudity, violence and language

• Rating: