Some movies are hard to categorise and The Nines is proof of that. If you start this movie without any prior knowledge of it you start wondering if you are watching a comedy, a drama, a horror film or something else. It initially doesn’t seem to be a movie worth watching, but as the story progresses everything you have seen before it starts to become more mysterious. The three leads, Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis don’t play the same roles throughout the movie.
The movie is separated in three separate, but connected, stories. In the first part, “The Prisoner”, Reynolds is Gary, an actor who seems to have lost control and after an extremely wild day ends up under house arrest. A woman (Melissa McCarthy) has been hired by his agent to make sure he lays low, doesn’t drink and doesn’t cause any more damage to himself and his public image. Gary gets to know the neighbour (Hope Davis) who tries to seduce him. As the day progresses strange things start to happen in the house and when this story unexpectedly ends it makes you wonder what you just saw. The second part lands you in some sort of reality TV show. Reynolds character now is a writer of a series which is about to be picked up by a major network which will star Melissa McCarthy. It is all about the politics of doing what the network wants and is an interesting look into the world of TV show development. Before you know it you get thrown into the third story. It is during this final part that it finally starts to become clear how all these stories are connected.
The Nines is a mysterious movie which took me a while to really get into, but as the movie progressed and more questions arose I just needed to find out what was going on. The end of the movie is surprising but at the same time is satisfying. It isn’t a movie that everyone will appreciate, especially for those looking for a movie which is easily categorised. I’ll have to admit that I’m not a fan of Reynolds, but here he gave very solid performances (as does the rest of the cast). The Nines will make you think and is a nice movie to discuss after seeing it.
Great review! I had this in my Netflix queue for the longest time, but always kept bumping it down before finally removing it. It sounds intriguing though. Maybe I’ll try to give it another chance.
Thanks Brittani. It is worth giving a shot although it could have been stronger.
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