Somewhere (2010)

Some might accuse director Sofia Coppla's 2010 film Somewhere of being portentous, and some might be right. I generally like Ms. Coppla's directorial work, but this film is easily the most off putting example of it that I have seen. In lieu of style Coppala holds shots for longer then you normally would, or lets scenes play out longer then seems necessary. Not a lot happens, and there's not a lot of character development. Stephen Dorff is the lead, he plays an action movie star who is essentially dead inside, which makes me want to make an unflattering joke about Stephen Dorff, but Dorff can't really be that dull, can he? The most likable character in the thing is Dorff's daughter played by an 11 year old Elle Fanning, who is obviously Coppla's surrogate as this film is about the behind the scenes Hollywood she grew up in. I have no doubt that the film is observant, and their are some intriguing areas plumbed here and some potentially memorable scenes, such as Dorff going to an Italian awards show and having no idea what's going on. However this film is not fun to watch and the story would likely have worked better as a novella. I don't often tell people not to see movies, but don't see this movie, if I thought it was blah, you'll likely hate it. *1/2