rated on a 4-star scale screening venue : home ( screener tape courtesy of fine line features usa ) released in the uk by alliance atlantis on january 28 , 2000 ; certificate 15 ; 106 minutes ; country of origin usa ; aspect ratio 1 . 85 : 1 directed by matthew warchus ; produced by jean-françois fonlupt , dan lupovitz , timm oberwelland . written by david nicholls , matthew warchus ; based upon the original stage play by sam shepard . photographed by john toll ; edited by pasquale buba . " simpatico " doesn't involve us in its story , so much as it blackmails us into it . yes , i kept wondering what was going to happen next , but not because i cared -- i simply wanted to make sense of it all . the film's method is to throw a lot of bewildering information at us , and keep us watching by promising it'll all be sorted out by the end . the main characters are carter ( jeff bridges ) , a successful businessman whose acres of property include a sleek country mansion , and vinnie ( nick nolte ) , an angry slob whose rotting bungalow lies in the middle of sandy nowhere . as the movie opens , carter is getting ready to sell his family's prized racehorse , but is interrupted from the deal by a phone call from vinnie , who orders him to come cross-country to see him . carter immediately hops on a plane . with the possible exception of hugh grant , millionaires don't often abandon their busy schedules to visit shady bums , so what strange hold does vinnie have on carter ? after a lot of unspecific talk about 'the past " , we learn that years ago the two men were involved together in gambling and bribery scams , and vinnie has always held onto proof of these illegal actions that could destroy carter's credibility in legitimate circles . since vinnie is more than a little unstable , carter does not want to upset him , and appeases his old friend as much as he can . we get the sense that this arrangement has been going for quite some time -- vinny making threats , carter giving him things to keep him quiet . things may not , however , be so simple this time . vinny is really starting to act like he'll do something with his evidence ; perhaps he'll expose carter , perhaps just re-open old wounds for the man's wife rosie ( sharon stone ) , whose part in her husband's extortion rackets left her permanently emotionally scarred . right there is , more or less , the whole story of " simpatico " , which unfolds in an odd manner : characters pop up onscreen now and again talking about secretive things the audience don't know anything about . flashbacks appear , to explain tiny pieces of the puzzle . then come moments of quiet reflection . while this deliberately perplexing method of storytelling must have seemed like a hot idea to the filmmakers , because it lets them stretch their meagre plot out to feature length , it leaves the audience at a loss to understand whether or not the actors' performances are any good . we're never let know what the motivations of the characters are , let alone whether these motivations are being played convincingly . nolte and bridges do a lot of grunting and shouting ; stone appears far too late in the film for her passionate anger to redeem the dullness of the script . albert finney , playing a man vinnie and carter ruined , does a lot of weird babbling in a typically terrible american accent ; catherine keener , as a checkout girl who never wanted to be involved with a bunch of crooks , switches between tough cookie and gullible simpleton , often within the same scene . maybe all this made sense in the sam shepard stage play upon which " simpatico " is based . it doesn't in the movie . this would have been a fascinating piece of work if the plot had been outlined in the opening twenty minutes , and the rest of the script had focused on the characters . who are these people ? who were they ? how do they feel about each other ? how did the consequences of their swindles specifically affect them ? " simpatico " ignores all these potentially interesting avenues , trying to work on the level of its mystery alone -- mystery that isn't mysterious , just confusing . copyright ( c ) 2000 ian waldron-mantganiplease visit , and encourage others to visit , the uk critic's website , which is located at <a href= " http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic " >http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic</a> 
