Lies & Illusions

The movie was so bad that it was fun to watch it all the way through it see how bad it was. The music and action was reminiscent of "Spaghetti Westerns" from the 60's.... Like "Fist Full of Dollars." Definitely don't pay to see the movie. Movie was so poorly directed and edited. Cinematography was amazingly poor. I would like to hear from Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding, Jr as to their thoughts on this movie. Unless they knew that this movie was going to be shot like a "Spaghetti Western" with a really low budget I would think that they were quite displeased with the results.

I can't believe Cuba Downey Jr. would stoop this low. Even Slater who is not a great actor to begin with, but has some charm, was absolutely awful in this flick. One of the most annoying aspects of this waste-of-time was the music in the background. What was that? I admit the first 15 min I thought it was going somewhere, but in not time it was clear it was time to pull the plug. The premise wasn't all that bad. A typical action/suspense plot were a husband does not know the true identity of his wife. But everything about it was wrong. You won't know how bad the movie is, until you've invested a good 15 to 20 minutes. The fighting scenes were ridiculous and Slater's bad acting just aggravated the situation.

At the beginning I saw that in this movie plays Cuba Gooding Jr. and Christian Slater and I thought it's gonna be a nice movie. Then I saw the trailer of this movie and I understood that it will not be such a good movie that I suppose. It is not a good movie and I do not recommend it because I did not like it and I can tell you that it is a boring movie and not an action movie. Although one thing that I liked in this movie is the performance of Cuba Gooding Jr. as a bad guy. Finally "Lies & Illusions" is a movie to simply pass your time and nothing more.

***SPOILERS*** Hard to figure out if "lies & Illusions" is either an action thriller unintentional comedy or some kind of Hollywood in joke concocted by those behind and staring in it. The one thing that I noticed about the film is that its star Christian Slater as self help author Wes Wislon is having the time of his life in being in the movie. Slater who lately will take any role he can get his hands on somehow manages to keep a smile on his face throughout the entire film that you start to wounder if he's really enjoying being in it or is popped up on uppers to the point where he feels no pain or embarrassment in how ridicules the movie, or his part in it , really is. It's Wilson's misfortune to run into, while signing his best selling book, leggy Samantha, Sarah Ann Schultz. Wilson is so struck by Samantha's beauty that he falls in love proposes and marries her by the time the evening is over. As things soon turn out Samantha is involved with this hoodlum Isaac, Cuba Goodin Jr,whom she left high and dry by taking off with some 10 million dollars worth of uncut diamonds that he had her hold for him. As things turn out Wilson becomes the major precipitant of Samantha's estate, after she was rubbed out by Isaac's goons on her and Wilson's wedding night, which includes the key to a bank safe deposit box where the diamonds are supposed to be hidden. To put a little more spice into the movie Wilson soon runs into, again while signing his book, magazine writer Nichole Williams, Christa Campbell, who's more interested in his love life, and what she can do to improve it, then his autograph. With all the major players in the movie now in place this sets up the scene for an almost hour long chase scene where Issac and his band of butterfingered henchmen wreck the entire city of Spokane Washington trying to get their hands of the diamonds with the local police either on vacation or out to lunch, only showing up when the movie is almost over, while all this destruction of city as well as personal property is going on! ***SPOILERS*** The film ends on a somewhat confusing note with a battered and bloodied Wes Wilson, who was shot and near death when it ended, now completely recovered and discussing a sequel to his best selling book with his friend an literary agent Martin, Al Madrigal. I guess this is what the title of the film meant! Was it actually true or just a BS story made up by Wislon for his latest literary project! As for the very embarrassed looking Cuba Goodin Jr he did, unlike Slater, look like he just couldn't wait for the movie to finally end so he could finally be through with being in it even if he would have to be killed off for that to happen!

I don't normally react to a movie, most of the time I recommend it to my friends and I try as much as I can to be objective about the whole thing... but this movie is so bad, and the most disappointing part of it was that the two lead cast (Slater and Gooding) are actually very good in other movies. Slater was a joke and I would like to say that Cuba Gooding was the only good thing in the movie but I can't say it, even his performance was dismal (to say the least). Christian Slater was acting so bad the two other actresses seemed like they were good. The feel of this movie is the described in one word.."BLEAGH!!" (along with the gag reflex)

This movie was actually quite better than I was expecting. It has plenty of suspense, action, and comedy. It's kind of like the opposite version of True Lies. Christian Slater stars as an author named Wes Wilson. On the night of a party, his fiancé, Samantha is kidnapped. A year has passed, and he is still haunted by that night. At a book signing, he meets Nichole and they slowly become a couple. Wes is soon approached by a man named Isaac who keeps asking where the diamonds are. When Wes finds out that Samantha is still alive, he learns that she is actually a spy. Wes, Samantha, and Nichole must stop Isaac before he gets what he wants. I highly recommend LIES & ILLUSIONS!!!

... recorded by a shaky cameraman. The review I quote below says it all "There is something worse than watching an inept movie — watching a one that had some promise and blows it. This will likely go directly to video because of multiple deficiencies. The plot: We have a celebrated writer who has just written a book on honesty in relationships. During the writing of this, he gets married to someone he dearly loves. One night, they are attacked and she disappears, apparently killed. In the year since, while waiting for legal matters to settle, some puzzling, but minor questions pop up. Our writer meets another woman, quite different. She nurtures him and like his lost wife, she feeds his creative writing urges. She solidly replaces the dead wife, helped by the suspicion that she (the first wife) had some secrets. A new marriage is in the works. Everyone is happy. We slowly are introduced, noirwise, to a seemingly powerful agency. We learn not much overall about who they are, but by steps we know they are some mix of spies and thieves. The mystery deepens. We discover that the dead wife worked for them. We even discover a secret room in the house, with all manner of tradecraft. So we have a sort of Mrs Smith situation, but without the fantasy. We enter Hitchcock territory, with a conventional macguffin — a suitcase of untold riches that we are chasing. But it is a modern, folded Hitchcock, because of the matters of trust, introspective writing, love. By now in terms of cinematic ambition, we are where "Vertigo" left off. The first wife returns and engages in the chase. There is conflicting evil and sliding loyalties. But wait, we take an abrupt turn into even more interesting territory. The second wife, the one that was certain where the first one wasn't? Well, she it turns out is an agent of some other unnamed federal group, and was only with our writer as part of an investigation. She is chasing the macguffin too. But she REALLY loves our man, it turns out. Maybe. As the action heats up: chases, fights between the two women, death, cruelty... we are left with all sorts of emotional shifts, moving from one urge to another, lost in a hypnotizing array of desires and beguiling tension. Eventually, the writer chooses the first wife, revelling in her mysteries and tension, producing his greatest books. Or such is the promise of this construction. In reality, every stroke of this that could grab or compel is not something that pulls us along, but a whoosh of missed opportunity. Every bullet misses. Every seduction by the writer (both of and in the movie) fails. An example: There is a noise in the house. Danger! Writer creeps along. An attack! No, just a cat screech-jumping in front of the camera. In fact, the screech seems to have come from the same recording of stock sound effects that the hokey score does. Where were the mysteries, the seductions?"

Now I know what you guys want. You want reviews that bash the living turd out of this movie. But I'm afraid I can't do that for you. You think you know what you're going to get with this movie. Judging by Slater's face in the cover art you immediately think "Oh god, another piece of crap." But oh no. This movie blew me away, the sheer raw emotion portrayed by Slater is moving. You really get a feel for how stunned and in awe when he was re united with his wife after 2 years. "You were 'sposed to be dead" 10/10. I gave this a 9 cause I want the honour of my 10 to only go to a class film like Legion. S - Stupendous. L - Lingering in my mind. A - All out action. T - Tantalisingly great. E - Electrifying R - Raw emotion.

I really wasn't sure whether this was supposed to be a comedy or action flick. Writer Wes Wilson (Christian Slater) falls head over heels for Samantha (Sarah Ann Schultz). Before they get married, she is kidnapped by Isaac (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). Seems she didn't tell Wes all about her past. Wes has this thing about fast relationships because he soon is shacking with a magazine writer Nicole (Christa Campbell). Slater seemed to be having a good time; well, he was with Christa Campbell, but Gooding was the main man here. He was just so cool throughout. Now, Wes might pick another subject to write about as he clearly is not good with relationships. Things clearly become cartoonish in Spokane. So, maybe this is a comedy after all. The ending was funny, but it had nothing to do with the story. I'm just glad to see Campbell in a more meaty role.

It's simply incredible that two famous actors accepted to act in such a terrible Z-movie. The script and screenplay are so incredibly poor that it looks like a 5 year old child spent his time in writing this crap. Direction is something which made me hope there was no director, the result could have been better. Really, I can't save anything at all of this movie, the only nice thing is sometimes the soundtrack, but two songs repeated ad infinitum would result boring even if wonderful. Please, avoid this movie if you can, spend your free time in something more intriguing... like sleeping. And actors, were you really so short in money you had to accept it or there was a gun on your head to force you to?