Sliding Doors (1998)

SLIDING DOORS is no great shakes as a romantic comedy, but it has a 
nifty gimmick:  the narrative "splits" to follow two versions of 
the same character (Gwenyth Paltrow, believably British as an ad 
exec), one of whom catches her London train in time to find her 
boyfriend in bed with another woman, and the other who doesn't.  
Cutting back and forth between the lives of Gwyneth #1 and Gwyneth 
#2, writer/director Peter Howitt keeps confusion at a minimum and 
even generates a bit of "Twilight Zone" tension, by having the two 
characters (and they're accompanying supporting characters) appear 
to occupy the same setting at the same time.  Too bad both Side A 
and Side B are a bit on the dull side, as a characters and story 
go.  (And, geez, can you get less pleasant than watching someone 
lie to a live-in partner, over and over and over again?)  There are 
more than a few funny lines, though, and Jeanne Tripplehorn steals 
most of her scenes as the increasingly hostile Psycho Mistress From 
Hell.  With John Lynch and John Hannah as the men, both of whom 
look between ten and twenty years older than Ms. Paltrow.  (Rated 
"R"/105 min.)

Grade: B-

Copyright 1998 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: May 3, 1998