Normally I love Jodie Foster, but this film is a total misfire that is little more than a gender reversal on Forrest Gump. Foster plays an uneducated backwoods woman, who is "discovered" following the death of her guardian and becomes the cause celebre for dueling medicos Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson, who debate about whether she should be institutionalized or allowed to remain in isolation. It is a potentially interesting story, but it goes south once one realizes that the film is infinitely more interested in utilizing Nell as some sort of wise-beyond-her-years E.T., who will ultimately bring everyone around her together, rather than examining the world from her perspective. As with many films now, it is in desperate need of editing and the length is unreasonable. Foster is initially amazing as a woman who speaks a language all her own, but there is nothing to the role beyond the initial impression. She spends the majority of the film twirling, speaking gibberish and taking skinnydips. One certainly has to admire her fearlessness in these moments, as she truly gives an air of being uninhibited and innocent. Ironically, director Apted misses few opportunities to denude his leading lady, but when the story conspires a reason for the strapping Neeson to shed his clothes, tellingly Apted suddenly becomes coy with showing nudity. Neeson and Richardson are both fine, but they are stuck in cardboard roles with little dimension. A total waste of time.
