By Dennis D. McDonald

I have a confession to make.

I enjoyed this movie.

It’s easy to see that the director has had a very hard time shrinking a 600-page novel (which I haven’t read)  down to a 2 hour movie, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The cast is terrific and the dialog is worth listening to. Plus, the movie is gorgeous to look at.

Interestingly, 99% of the reviews you can find on the Internet are negative.

No matter.  I like Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Anthony Hopkins. Are they miscast? Perhaps. But a magnificant failure is definitely more interesting than a piece of crap, and this is defintiely NOT a piece of crap.

Where else can you see an exotic dancer on ice skates?