I’m not a huge fan of Steven Soderbergh’s work, but I respect his artistry.  Side Effects looks and sounds really good; it is a professionally-made thriller that isn’t easy to decipher and is generally quite effective.  But it is also a film that turns a little murky under close inspection.  Thrillers, especially those that feature shady characters who fool everyone around them, lose some of their steam just because we no longer trust what we are seeing — and this certainly applies to Side Effects.  It pretends to be a particular type of story when in fact it is something else entirely.

Psychiatrist Jude Law (in a very creditable performance) begins to treat depressive Rooney Mara, who eventually commits a crime under the influence of a drug that Law prescribed for her.  Mara is arrested and Law suddenly comes under scrutiny that threatens his marriage and professional practice.  Law scrambles to uncover the truth to salvage his reputation and finds that things are not at all what they seem.

Where the film turns murky is in its character motivation in the second half.  Things are eventually explained, but I still have questions that I cannot answer about why the original crime was committed and what the end benefit was to be.  I also think that Jude Law’s gradual realization of what was happening could have been clearer; it seemed to happen all at once without any specific epiphany.  The filmmaking also becomes broader at the end; where early on things were examined and discussed very specifically, later important events are unseen just to provide surprises for the characters who will feel their consequences.  This is the nature of this type of film — in order to surprise the audience certain things must be hidden — yet it differs so greatly from what has gone before that it is noticeable and troubling.

Side Effects purports to tell one story when it is really telling something else, and that also takes its toll on an audience.  If the switch is handled well and is rewarding dramatically then there is no problem.  But if not, and the original premise seems more interesting or promising then what is actually delivered, then it must be measured as a disappointment.  That is ultimately the case with Side Effects, despite a very good Jude Law performance and the chance to watch Catherine Zeta-Jones lock lips with Rooney Mara.  ☆ ☆.  8 February 2013.