confessions of an amateur cineaste

I got a free pass to The Da Vinci Code, which was a good thing because I certainly didn’t want to pay money to see it. My Plus-One was in line mad-early, which was a good thing as there were roughly ten bazillion people trying to get in. And -then- in addition to being searched (par for the course; I always lie about having a cell phone) we were wanded. Checking for metal in case we were insane Catholics planning to shoot up the theater, I guess.

No worries here. The movie never got off the ground, as it were, so there was no danger of anyone getting riled up. It was too long by probably a half hour, and I think the problems in general were probably problems the book had: laughably bad dialogue, cardboard characterization. The cast did what they could with what they had to work with.

Paul Bettany, however? All I could have hoped for and more. Ian McKellen chewing on scenery was also nifty.

Verdict: Better than Firewall.