Side Effects (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆

Side Effects (2013) – S. Soderbergh

I haven’t been watching every Soderbergh film; he seems very hit or miss -- or somewhere in between, as with this film.  Of course, this probably isn’t the place to debate auteur theory but the variability in his output is probably due to other people, such as the writer -- in this case, Scott Z. Burns.  Presumably, Burns is responsible for the plot which is very au courant for 2013, positing that side effects of medication might remove someone’s culpability for a crime. Rooney Mara plays Emily, a twenty-something who is depressed (her husband has just served time for insider trading); after a presumed suicide attempt, her psychiatrist (Jude Law) prescribes her a series of anti-depressants, concluding with one that a friend recommended to her (after seeing ads on TV) that has a side effect of sleepwalking.  When she commits a murder while sleepwalking, the legal issues revolve around who is to blame – Emily, her prescribing doctor, or even Big Pharma.  If it sounds as though I’ve provided spoilers here, suffice it to say that the plot does not really resolve this quandary but instead takes its characters (including Emily’s previous psychiatrist played by Catherine Zeta Jones) into much more complicated (some might say ludicrous) territory.  To be honest, I’m not sure I fully buy (or understand) the resolution, but thrillers sell and incisive investigations into serious issues probably don’t.  Entertaining enough, I guess.