Side Effects Review

Words By

• Mad Dog Bradley

Wildly workaholic director/pseudonymous-editor-and-cinematographer Steven Soderbergh’s latest (here a mere six months after his male-stripper drama Magic Mike last year) is a tough one to talk about, with a genuinely surprising script by Scott Z Burns (who also penned Soderbergh’s Contagion and The Informant!) that shouldn’t be discussed in too much detail - but is, and often, by punters and critics who don’t understand the word ‘spoiler’.

Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) is introduced visiting her husband Martin (Channing Tatum AKA Magic Mike himself, and Soderbergh’s current muse) in prison, and when he’s released the plot seems to be heading towards a study of his return to ‘insider trading’ ways. However, we instead take a turn, as Emily is revealed as seriously depressed and, after episodes of dangerous behavior, referred to Dr Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), who prescribes ‘Ablixa’ and makes contact with Emily’s previous doctor (Catherine Zeta-Jones as Victoria Siebert), as Burns’ screenplay takes yet another dark alternate route and our heavily-medicated contemporary society is fearlessly placed under the microscope.

And while there’s plenty here that can’t be discussed, let’s concentrate upon the elements that actually can, including Law, who’s never been better (and always excels when he’s allowed a little humour and the chance to use his real accent), and Mara (AKA the American Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), whose strange, quiet performance is truly something to behold. Note too, that some sources claim that this is to be the 49-year-old Soderbergh’s final film as director, but surely that can’t be right because, given the preposterously prolific way that he works, he’s still got at least 298 good movies left in him.