Closer (2004)

Solid adaptation of Patrick Marber's fine play, well-handled by Mike Nichols. He doesn't try to inappropriately open it up, but neither does his direction feel overly stagey. Marber's dialogue, on the other hand, does occasionally sound like something that doesn't work off the boards, but for the most part it's sharp. It trades the raw immediacy of the stage for a cool, clinical examination of the four characters and their emotional inadequecies; as it turns out, both approaches are effective. Really well-acted, too, even if Julia Roberts sometimes looks like she's in over her head. Natalie Portman, sadly, does not go starkers, but she does spend a lot of time waving her thong-clad behind into the camera (and Clive Owen's face), so that's something.

Grade: B+