If I had to choose between cholera and sitting through this movie again, I'd choose cholera, it's far less painful. While the cinematography is great and the soundtrack beautiful, the rest of the movie is the stellar opposite.
The story fails to be romantic in any way. The lead actress has no chemistry with any of the actors she's supposed to be attracted to, and they don't have much chemistry with her either. There are cameos galore, but with no real purpose, except maybe that the actors wanted their names on the the cast list for what they hoped would be as lauded a movie as was the book on which it was based.
While the lead actress plays the same role throughout the movie, even though she doesn't pass as a teenager, much less as a 72 year old woman, even with extensive make-up, the lead male role is inexplicably split between two actors - the later being Bardem who, because of the excessive make-up and blush applied to him is supposed to pass as a 20 year old, more so than the 29 year old actor who had played the character in his teens. This reveals another major problem of this film, all the actors always have on too much make-up, even when it is not needed, and this is particularly distracting when you see a close-up on the actors on the big screen of a theatre, and all you see is foundation and blush. The actors seem to age at different rates, and with no dates or indication of how much time has passed between scenes, it all becomes very difficult to follow, particularly when other characters, such as Bardem's character's mother, don't age at all, they're just fortunate enough to become senile.
Most of the acting is on par with a bad telenovela, and even in the few cases where the actors give good performances, such as Hector Elizondo, there's no depth to the character. At one point you're lead to believe that his character has died and that Bardem's character has taken over the business, only to have him pop up again half an hour later to announce that he's retiring. Most of the actors muddle through strained accents, none of which match up, and the most hilariously out of place is John Leguizamo, who plays his character as if he's the lovechild of his characters from Moulin Rouge and Spawn, but with a heavy New York accent this time.
There's no sense of love between any of the characters, not even familial love between the uncle and nephew, as the uncle is quick to accuse his nephew of coming to see him only because he wants something. As far as romantic love, the lead actress doesn't seem to love Bardem's character at all, let alone her husband. And Bardem's character just comes off as a strange, disturbing stalker, who so "loves" and is committed to the woman he pursues, that he sleeps with any woman that walks by, including his 16 year old niece (or some other relative). None of the lead characters are in the least bit even likable, so it's difficult to feel any empathy for anything they're supposed to be feeling or going through.
I admit, there are a few laughs in this film, unfortunately, most of them don't seem to be intentional. In the end, they hardly make up for having to sit through more than two hours of characters you don't really care about. I found myself envying the characters that died in the film - at least they didn't have to stay for the end.
The story fails to be romantic in any way. The lead actress has no chemistry with any of the actors she's supposed to be attracted to, and they don't have much chemistry with her either. There are cameos galore, but with no real purpose, except maybe that the actors wanted their names on the the cast list for what they hoped would be as lauded a movie as was the book on which it was based.
While the lead actress plays the same role throughout the movie, even though she doesn't pass as a teenager, much less as a 72 year old woman, even with extensive make-up, the lead male role is inexplicably split between two actors - the later being Bardem who, because of the excessive make-up and blush applied to him is supposed to pass as a 20 year old, more so than the 29 year old actor who had played the character in his teens. This reveals another major problem of this film, all the actors always have on too much make-up, even when it is not needed, and this is particularly distracting when you see a close-up on the actors on the big screen of a theatre, and all you see is foundation and blush. The actors seem to age at different rates, and with no dates or indication of how much time has passed between scenes, it all becomes very difficult to follow, particularly when other characters, such as Bardem's character's mother, don't age at all, they're just fortunate enough to become senile.
Most of the acting is on par with a bad telenovela, and even in the few cases where the actors give good performances, such as Hector Elizondo, there's no depth to the character. At one point you're lead to believe that his character has died and that Bardem's character has taken over the business, only to have him pop up again half an hour later to announce that he's retiring. Most of the actors muddle through strained accents, none of which match up, and the most hilariously out of place is John Leguizamo, who plays his character as if he's the lovechild of his characters from Moulin Rouge and Spawn, but with a heavy New York accent this time.
There's no sense of love between any of the characters, not even familial love between the uncle and nephew, as the uncle is quick to accuse his nephew of coming to see him only because he wants something. As far as romantic love, the lead actress doesn't seem to love Bardem's character at all, let alone her husband. And Bardem's character just comes off as a strange, disturbing stalker, who so "loves" and is committed to the woman he pursues, that he sleeps with any woman that walks by, including his 16 year old niece (or some other relative). None of the lead characters are in the least bit even likable, so it's difficult to feel any empathy for anything they're supposed to be feeling or going through.
I admit, there are a few laughs in this film, unfortunately, most of them don't seem to be intentional. In the end, they hardly make up for having to sit through more than two hours of characters you don't really care about. I found myself envying the characters that died in the film - at least they didn't have to stay for the end.