Canadian director of efficient Hitchcockian suspensers, whose stock
notably rose with the critically lauded crime epic L.A.Confidential
in the late 1990s. None of his movies are less than entertaining, but
they're also rarely more, failing to convince with their token
gestures towards depth and subtext. Wonder Boys, an attempt to move
into more character driven territory, backfired, and one suspects
he'll retreat back towards safe genre fare before long. In any case,
it's the first time he's explored any themes beyond the dramatically
convenient 'illusion/reality' antithesis evident throughout his
filmography.
