Word: ethane
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First-time director Andrew Niccol brings considerable visual style and an intriguing premise to this story of a Brave New Worldish society in which the preplanned, genetically made-to-order elite get the honors and opportunities, and the natural births are relegated to the grunt work. Ethan Hawke plays a "natural" who borrows the identity of a brahmin to fulfill his lifelong dream of leading a mission to outer space. Although the film suffers from unevenness, sketchy characters and muted acting, Niccol's striking images make it all easy to overlook...
Daisy (Claire Danes) is a self-conscious teen who attends a pretentious Manhattan private school and spends most of her time reading and day-dreaming. When she goes upstate to visit her beloved Nana (Jeanne Moreau), she immediately relaxes, talking endlessly about her crush on Ethan Wells (Jude Law), the popular and egoistic class jock. Afterwards, when Daisy reads a lustful love poem aloud in class, Ethan immediately recognizes to whom the composition is addressed. He, of course, pursues her and they soon become a couple. But when she confides to Ethan that her Nana is a Holocaust survivor...
There are also a number of egregious flaws in the portrayal of the characters. Ethan exudes arrogance from the outset: there is simply nothing likeable about his constant bragging and self-flattery. At one point, he even comments to a befuddled Daisy, "I know you like me." Apart from adhering to the scripted cliches, Jude Law imbues the character with nothing but conceit...
Danes tries harder than Law, but still finds it impossible to make Daisy a plausible or engaging character. She bats her eyelashes, makes out with her bedroom mirror (no kidding) and even faints in an attempt to gain Ethan's attention, finally attracting his notice by a contrived and blatant flaunting of her sexuality. The implication, of course, is that Daisy serves as another girl for Ethan's score card. As a result, it becomes painful to observe the developing relationship. Indeed, Daisy's infatuation with such a narcissist has a downright misogynistic undertone...
...first question facing Scribner and its parent Simon & Schuster--the big fish that had swallowed an earlier, smaller-fry publisher of Joy--was how to get Ethan Becker on board for the new project. An advance payment of more than a million dollars provided a satisfactory answer for all the parties involved. Ethan is hence listed on the cover and title page along with Irma and Marion as the author of the Joy of Cooking. But how many verses, people in publishing and in the intensely competitive world of chefs and cookbook writers wondered, often loudly, did Ethan really sing...