Leofwine_draca This dull reworking of the Jekyll and Hyde story reposits the whole thing as a doomed Gothic romance, with mousy maid Julia Roberts working in the household of John Malkovich and gradually coming to realise that all isn't well with her employer. MARY REILLY suffers hugely from the random feminist slant on the story, which substitutes meek romance for the original story's full-blooded horror, rendering it into a weak and unwieldy production.I suspect that most viewers like myself will have a hard time with Roberts's attempts at an Irish accent. It's one of the worst accents to come from Hollywood, up there with Kevin Costner's attempts at an English accent in ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES; embarrassing, in fact. At least Malkovich has the good sense to not even attempt to do one, although his hammy overacting is off-putting in itself. The film does contain one surprise CGI effect, which looks appallingly dated to the modern viewer.As a film, MARY REILLY is slow, unfocused, and hampered by the viewer's knowledge of the story which means there are no surprises in store. The characters are poorly written and Reilly herself is unsympathetic - no Jane Eyre here, with hidden reserves of wit and courage, just somebody who doesn't even deserve the camera time. The one good thing about this film is that it features roles for British character actors like George Cole, Ciaran Hinds, Kathy Staff, and Michael Gambon. If I'm honest I would have preferred the film with Cole in the Jekyll role and Staff as the lead, they show up the Hollywood stars that much.

FlashCallahan Mary Reilly is a lonely servant in the home of Dr Henry Jekyll, devoted to her position and her master. Slowly, a gradual friendship between Mary and the doctor begins as well as a growing attraction. However, Mary's quiet presence is thrown upside down when she meets Henry Jekyll's assistant, the handsome but enigmatic Edward Hyde. Although initially repelled, Mary soon finds herself drawn towards his passionate nature. But Edward Hyde is not all he seems...There are two elements to the film that really take you away from everything and just ruin any good intentions that it may have had. Firstly, Julia Roberts' accent goes up and down more than her box office history, and it usually changes during a sentence, so you are not listening to what she is saying, you are listening to hear the change of accent.And secondly, and the biggest problem with the films coherence, is that the makers have made hardly any effort to change Malkovich when he is playing different characters. Hyde just has a limp, different hair and an attitude.Anybody, literally anybody, would know that it's the one and the same person.But us Brits do have the added bonus of seeing Arthur Daley and Nora Batty together at long last.Considering the body of work that the director has given us, this really is a dogs dinner of a film, and it's totally understandable as to why it made no money whatsoever, it's badly cays, badly written, and despite one really impressive shot featuring an upside down Hyde holding a human head, it has nothing visually stimulating either.It's as bad as the critics said it was back in 1996, it took me twenty years to finally see it, I'll never get that time back.Rubbish.

jacobjohntaylor1 This a great movie. It is based on the book Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. Told from the prospective of one of Dr.Jekyll servants. This movie as great acting. It also has a great story line. It also as great special effects. This is a story of how a Doctor discovers that man has two souls and good one and evil one. He tries to serpent the two. Soul he creates a formula that brings out his evil side. Then it starts to take him over. This one of the best remake ever. It is one of the scariest movies you will ever see. It is very intense. There are not very many movie scarier then Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (1931). This is one of them. I need more lines and I am running out of thing to say.

Jimmy Collins I initially came across this film when I found out it was at one stage planned to be a Winona Ryder/Tim Burton vehicle, and I have to sat I was so impressed by it that it is now one of my favorite films.With a bit of research I got the idea that this was a bad stage in Julias career, but I have to say I have never seen her better than she is in this. Her performance is just astounding, she has thus innocence and vulnerability that I never thought I'd see coming from her, she embodies the character extremely well, so well that it would have been a crime to see anyone else in the role. John Malkovich ramps up the creepy factor in this movie, his performance is also just stellar, he is truly terrifying in the scenes where he is Jekyll.Another thing I like is that this is such a great retelling of the Jekyll/ Hyde story, it's the best one I've ever seen, I think one big advantage it has is that its told from an onlookers perspective and not from an unknown or first person perspective.The cinematography is wonderful, the constant shade of grey and the overlying layer of fog both help to create the dark and moody atmosphere. I think it's definitely a movie fans of the story would enjoy and also people who aren't so familiar with it.Top notch Gothic horror that deserves to be seen....