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Created Feb 02, 2011 10:14PM PST • Edited Feb 05, 2011 11:47AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   When an emotionally unstable guy falls for another man’s other woman, all bets are off, especially for those that truly love him. An old story certainly, but well told and performed in Two Lovers. It helps that Gwyneth Paltrow makes a tremendously fetching femme fatale and that the rest of the cast in this intriguing movie are interesting characters.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Non-Jews Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rossellini and Elias Koteas, and half-Jewish Joaquin Phoenix play most of the Jewish characters in this modestly ethnic movie, while half-Jewish Gwyneth Paltrow plays the shiksa. Ain’t America great.

   Phoenix essays his patented character: an emotionally unstable guy who still ends up an object of female attraction. Nice work if you can get it.

   His two lovers are more impressive. Gwyneth Paltrow convincingly plays an amoral party girl. Vinessa Shaw quietly charms as a marriageable girl who must navigate the whims of an unstable boyfriend.

   Israeli actor Moni Moshonov jumps off the screen as Phoenix’s gentle father, while Isabella Rossellini is always a welcome sight, here as the mother.

   Also jumping off the screen are Bob Ari as a mensch who is forced to trust Phoenix’s character, and Elias Koteas as an Elliot Spitzer-like NY attorney who uses wealth and position in immoral ways.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    A bit dour, yet occasionally mordantly funny, James Gray’s film unspools more than a few surprises, making it consistently engaging to the end.

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.2

    Risqué the nice way: erotic, salty and gentle.

17. Sex Erotic 3.4

18. Violence Gentle 1.3

19. Rudeness Salty 1.9

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

    The depictions of small business and the allure of bright lights-big city Manhattan seemed just right.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.8

23. Biological Glib 1.5

24. Physical Natural 1.0