WemonAde.com When Life Gives You…

This movie is something I’d use the acronym OTT!  (over the TOP).  The film, made in 2008 is all about terrorism and espionage.  But if you are looking for a truthful depiction of those points, this movie is not for you.  It is not a documentary and you can’t figure out who’s a bigger liar or jerk: Russel Crowe (who plays a stay at home most of the time daddy in control of what happens in the spy realm as he performs daddy duties with kids while on the phone all the time).  He views nobody as innocent and people are just pawns for his gain when it comes to fighting terrorism.  Which of course, is for the good of the world in Crowe’s eyes.  Leonardo plays Ferris, an angry spy fighting terrorism, and always feeling like he’s getting the short end of the stick.  He argues (usually one sided) with Crowe because he’s not getting all the information he needs to perform his duties well. He is tormented with what is right and what is wrong while also wondering who he can trust. Along with that, he seems to get hurt often, and of course that is how he meets his gratuitous girl.  He is also tracked often if not all the time via satellite video, with Crowe on the watching end, which he has no true privacy and things get hairy when his own Jordanian friends get hurt and his girl gets involved. (of course there has to be a girl, right? Nobody can have Leonardo without a girl..).  a cameo Andy Garcia look alike played the big guy in Jordan. 

Action packed, keeping one on their toes and many things happen that you of course couldn’t imagine, so if you are in for a thriller without too much care of whether you can truly follow this confusion, it is a fun movie for you.  Innocent people die, lots of blowing things up and everyone can get killed at any time. This is definitely NOT a Grammy winner in my book.  Apparently (and I have not read the book, this was taken from a David Ignatius novel).