The Film
Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox and Bill Murray walk onto a movie set. It's not the setup for a joke, unless you count Passion Play.
Instead of getting a bullet, trumpet player Nate (Rourke) gets saved by a group of guys in white suits. Soon after, he happens upon Lily (Fox), a carnival freak with a heart of gold and acting skills of wood. The freakish part is not her uber-thin body or her surgically enhanced lips, but a real live pair of wings.
There are plenty of Fox haters out there (hello Michael Bay!), but we aren't among them. That said, this film just adds to her downward spiral. Yes, this film is actually worse than Jonah Hex. It's strange, though, that Rourke would do this type of movie, considering his recent comeback. Murray is even more confusing as Happy Shannon, a gangster who may have raided Robert Evans' closet (seriously; see The Kids Stays in the Picture). Murray is supposedly weird about movie roles, and this was the call that he actually picked up? Suddendly, Garfield doesn't seem all that bad. His one saving grace is that he does manage to stay out of most of the film. In fact, it takes him a full 30 minutes to appear. We were thinking that maybe he made himself scarce because this film is so horrible.
In case you were even considering this movie, know that there's also a love triangle between the three main leads. Love the guys, but it's borderline laughable. No wonder Fox seems to be wincing through the whole thing.
Towards the end, Lily and Nate fly off into the sunset. No, really. Is she a real angel or not? It doesn't really matter. Passion Play is so bad that those who make it to the end are probably too chemically altered to notice what just happened.
The Picture
There are some rich colors in the 2.40:1 transfer of Passion Play. Overall though, the image is a bit of a mixed bag. The colors are pretty dim, which is definitely intentional. As awesome as gangsters and carnival freaks are, they don't demand a perky color palette. When the film gets very dark, which is fairly often, the film loses a lot of detail. Also, there are many soft shots in the film. Some of that could be intentional as well, but it sort of goes in and out. There's still some sharp imagery here, most notably on the faces of Fox and Rourke.
The Sound
Passion Play may be a movie that no one's ever heard of, but it is a movie that can be heard -- as far as music is concerned. The film relies heavily on its soundtrack, which the DTS-HS Master Audio track cranks out a little too much throughout the movie. Still, it doesn't drown out the carnies, crowds and gunshots. However, when the dialogue does pipe in, you'd better pay attention. Mickey isn't easy to understand on a good day, and we found ourselves reaching for the remote on more than a few scenes here. Fox for some reason follows suit. You're probably better off.
The Extras
There's a trailer here and nothing more. This defies the old adage that the most mediocre films usually get the most interesting extras as the film makers try to explain how good their intentions were and how much fun it was making a crappy movie. This one will just have to stand on its own merits.
Final Thoughts
Passion Play may be the dumbest movie ever made (in my humble opinion, of course). At the very least, it's the dumbest to rope in such a high-profile cast. If a few fleeting glimpses of Megan Fox in wings, underpants and nothing else is important to your movie experience, then have at it. The film offers very little else except the cliffhanger of "what the hell were they all smoking?"
Product Details
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