Third Person * (R) Paul Haggis has won a couple of Oscars to cap a raft of other nominations and awards for his writing, directing and producing. Crash was his most acclaimed production, with the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby ranked among other fine achievements. So this complicated, lengthy drama centering on a formerly successful novelist (Liam Neeson) who is struggling to rediscover his gift should have soared in the hands of its creator...or at least made sense to his viewers. Haggis assembled a fine, deep cast (Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, Maria Bello, Adrien Brody, Kim Basinger), scattered them among Rome, Paris and Manhattan locations for rotation among several vaguely similar tales of love and loss, then smushed all those assets into a huge sloppy mess of pretentiousness without payoff. Unfortunately, I can’t explain that for two reasons - impermissible spoilers, and the fact that much of what I’d spent over two hours watching wound up making no sense, anyway.
The common thread among the three main plots seems to be children lost or hurt in various ways, and the devastating effects such events may have on the parents and those who care about them. The hopscotch game among the arenas of action not only requires too much attention, but starts unraveling before the climax...or what passes for one. A whole lotta talent toiling in a story with too little value. Neeson would have been better off spending that time in Europe looking for another abducted relative. (7/11/14)