It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think that anyone under 30 years of age will find it hard to relate to the essence of this film...make that 40! Adoption - rootless - the symbolism of the building is so powerful. It becomes the essence of all that once was life and strength. Now it has become abandoned and derelict. Love - loss - distraction - deception - and the patterns of the past are cleverely conjured back into the present by the marvellous direction.This is a movie that speaks about Loss - and presents this in evocative and intuitive visual terms. It's far from the MTV slickness of 2 clips a second - because it's engineered and paced to touch chords. David Lean is a genius in this.If you watch this film and become bored, then you need to try again in the later half of your life.It's one that I'd take if I was going to be marooned on a desert island.Along with Citizen Kane, Ghostbusters 1 and Damage.Marvellous! Rob

This film is a unique combination of film noir, an object (building) as the leading character, comedy, and horror. It works.Except for one thing - the sound. You cannot understand most of what they say. Not to say that this was a cheap cheesy flick with bad sound - this was a decent production. Either the sound was accidentally bad, or the Brit director did what they often do over there - make films with poor sound quality. I mean, the voices are muffled (poor frequency response of the equipment or setup) and the mikes are too far from the actors. For years, I thought it was just that I could not follow the British accent, but friends with whom I have watched several British films concur. It is a national trait. It's the same with Vera Drake.British TV productions that they show on US networks have good sound. It's British produced/directed feature films that sport bad sound.Rent this one, but turn your hearing aid up or use the subtitles.

We came in about 15 minutes after this started on TV. Hmmm. Interesting cast, Mike Figgis directing, liked the cast iron building set-up. Within 20 minutes we knew why we hadn't heard before about this movie. it was pretty dreadful. Clearly only about half a normal screenplay had been completed because there was no other plausible reason for those -- tedious -- pseudo-meaningful (meaningless) -- pauses. In my partner's inimtable phrasing Harold Pinter seems a laugh a minute screwball comedy writer of speedy proportions alongside this. Elephants have gestated quicker than this progressed! Everything was invested with 'meaning' to the point where, oh heavens, not ANOTHER drawn-out sex scene, one just longed for some EXPLICATION about what was going on. Yes there was some nice cinematography, and many of the cast deserved better than this. The hapless lead has disappeared almost without trace. poor boy. For a story so laden with pseudo-pyschobabble subplots and personal histories repeating I have just one question; exactly WHY is Bill Pullman's character so defiantly intent on destroying the building? MOTIVATION, MOTIVATION, MOTIVATION.

Spoilers herein.Figgis has real talent. He's unpredictable, but here he really sings. This is great, intelligent. Many compare it to `Dead Again' which debuted in the same year and which had star appeal. That film was an actor's romp, this is a filmmaker's song. This has many features that I find really attractive in a film:-- films that construct and fold realities, this despite the blizzard of recent such films. The folding isn't particularly clever plotwise, but it does not intend to be, instead relying on the mechanics listed below.-- films where buildings are characters and photographed as such. The cool thing here is the deliberate projection of the architect's fantasy as a building, which it would be when his passions are centered on buildings.-- films that are firstly cinematic and then dramatic. `Dead Again' was conceived and executed as a drama with the projection from the actors and story -- as noted, this starts with a complex of images (and sound! don't forget the sound) with everything in service to that.-- films that reinvent mystery cinematically. This wasn't the most engaging mysterywise, but I don't think a good film solution has been found yet.Plus, the characters here are so, so physically attractive. The whole thing revolves around Alicia Witt (the redheaded girl/whorehouse pianist). If you understand her, you got it. This is stuff worth watching with your eyes.You must, must see it with the missing scene restored -- or if viewing via DVD, go to the extra scene manually when Nick gets a ride back from the party with the sheriff. Do your part to prevent forest fires.