Tastes bland, less filling!

The Movie: The I Inside, directed by Roland Suso Richter
Recommendation: Broomie
Reason: "I am indulging my crush on Sarah Polley."

This movie was originally supposed to star Stephen Dorff, he who slays movies with his awfulness. Thankfully, an actor with talent was located, and Mr. Dorff was spared a paycheck. Ryan Philippe carried off a solid leading performance in The I Inside. That's unfortunate, since even a solid leading performance couldn't help Piper Perabo act a little more convincingly or boost Sarah Polley's performance to the level she's capable of.

The story was initially reminiscent of Memento, with the main character developing symptoms of short term memory loss and trying to cope. It changed gears (quite well, I might add) and reminded me of The Butterfly Effect, and then very strongly of Jacob's Ladder. The similarities were so strong that I was actually surprised by the choice of ending. If the movie had been a little stronger in the story area, I think it could have ably stood with the others I've mentioned (and a little higher than The Butterfly Effect). As it was, the story had trouble supporting the conclusion the end provided, and so the final act became a little questionable.

The story had some really good moments, but for those who are familiar with Jacob's Ladder in particular, at some points it seemed as though The I Inside was just retreading old ground. This was a decent movie, a sort of an attempt at an update to that classic, but it wasn't quite good enough to surpass or match it.

-88/365 down, 277/365 to go