Yeah, I was out of touch

I skipped Side Effects (2013) when it came out. Maybe there was too much Soderbergh about. Maybe I still harboured resentment about the holographic Fabergé egg. Ocean's Twelve has gotten better with time. Ocean's Thirteen now feels like a breath of fresh air. That's just a shift in mood. But that Side Effects was poorly received seems inexplicable. The movie is focused and emotionally intricate with just the right amount of weirdness. The script by Scott Z Burns probably hits every mark in the Syd Mead storybook. But the direction is out of sight. It sits alongside Andrew Davis' A Perfect Murder (1998) and Bob Rafelson's Black Widow (1987). People dismissed those films as workmanlike but a workmanlike thriller leaves nowhere to hide.