Tom & Viv (1994)

When a movie starts to bore, I get drowsy.  When a movie stays boring, I
want to take a nap.  Or leave.  In the worst situations-- say, in some-
thing like MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE-- I can usually take it
for about an hour, at which point I begin to wonder why I'm investing my
time on something so completely uninteresting.  Such were thoughts last
Saturday as I struggled through TOM & VIV, director Brian Gilbert's
lethargic portrait of T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe) and his emotionally ill
wife Vivienne (Miranda Richardson).

TOM & VIV moves so dreadfully slow in the first hour that I challenge
anyone not to bolt for the exits.  The characters seem to emote in
slow-motion, with Dafoe's Eliot virtually impossible to see into.  Both
Richardson and costar Rosemary Harris give Oscar worthy performances,
but they take a while to warm up to.  Stick it out, stay awake, eat some
Twizzlers, and you'll find that the story finally comes full circle in
the second hour with a harrowing account of Vivienne's "treatment."
(Rated "PG"/125 min.)

Grade: C-