At First Sight (1999)

AT FIRST SIGHT has a cute beginning and end, I'll give you that.  
The midsection's a toughie, though, with its pat plotting, gushy 
feelings, and what seems like a double-dozen love scenes between 
Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino.  (Calm down, folks, neither shows any 
skin.)  In this "true" tale based on the Oliver Sacks story, the 
former bat is a blind masseuse who meets Sorvino's Big Apple arch-
itect at an upstate spa.  His hands make her weep; she smells like 
cinnamon and it's love at first sniff.  Throw in a primer on being
blind, a protective sister (Kelly McGillis), and an experimental 
optical procedure, and you can take it from there.  (He gains his 
sight, he loses his sight, and even gets in a confrontation with 
his long-absent father!)  Valmira have a good chemistry and when 
the mechanics of the plot aren't drowning them out-- such as at 
either end of the film-- they make a rather appealing screen pair.  
If the only the movie was as good.  One question:  did Kilmer base 
his characterization on Stevie Wonder?  He's grinnin' like a fool 
in this one...  With Bruce Davison, Steven Weber, and Nathan Lane, 
who appears in a couple scenes as a wise-cracking (and kinda crass) 
visual therapist.  (Rated "PG"/128 min.)

Grade: C+

Copyright 1999 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: Two More