Miranda DVD with Christina Ricci, John Simm, Kyle MacLachlan (R) +Movie Reviews

5 stars for John Simm!

VictoriousDust | Durham, NC USA | 07/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"More John Simm! Please, John, make more movies, and not just BBC tv.
Simm's character, Frank, has got to be the sweetest boy-man in cinema. Christina Ricci is wonderful playing a character that is all hard-edge. Frank is the perfect foil to melt her like butter, if she will let him. Frank is nerdy, but cute and sensitive-- adoring and adorable. As John Hurt says in the bts, it's an idealistic love affair, but Ricci & Simm are thoroughly enjoyable together. And MacLachlan and Hurt are typically perfect in supporting roles. The plot is exaggerated, but it's pure escapist fun. For a B-movie, it is a gem of a find, thanks to Simm."

So bad it's . . . really bad

Seventh Deadly Finn | New York, NY | 03/18/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a fan of Christina Ricci and dark comedies, yet I found this film damn near unwatchable. The only things intriguing about it are why the actors agreed to do it, why it was made, and why, after the backers presumably saw the finished product, it was released. The film itself gets no stars; my one star is for Ricci's presence.

For Ricci completists only, and then I recommend it be viewed with the sound off so that no one need listen to the dialogue."

"Grifters" Lite

D. Hartley | Seattle, WA USA | 07/08/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and call this a "likeable little noir". Reminiscent of several recent Brit Noirs ("The Criminal", "B. Monkey") that feature an everday ho-hum 'bloke' hooking up with an impossibly beautiful and sexy woman who soon sends him hurtling into a world of danger and intrigue, "Miranda"'s nebbishy protaganist takes the shape of Frank the librarian (John Simm). When an alluring yet enigmatic American woman (Christini Ricci) "randomly" strolls into his library, the daydreaming Frank fantasizes that his life is about to change-and precedes to learn where the proverb "Be careful what you wish for" came from! After you've pushed aside all the ensuing plot twists and dark crime thriller elements, you actually have a rather engaging romantic comedy at the film's core. Ricci just keeps getting better and better, and John Hurt is excellent as Miranda's shadowy "mastermind"/ mentor. Kyle MacLachlan deserves honorable mention for a dark comic turn as a sleazy, corrupt businessman (are there any other kind?) who lives for the day that Miranda concedes to dominate and "punish" him (perhaps a sly reference to his "love" scenes with Isabella Rossilini in "Blue Velvet"?). A must-see for Noir and/or Ricci fans."

(2.5 STARS) Ricci in Off-beat Romantic Comedy Thriller ... S

Tsuyoshi | Kyoto, Japan | 07/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Miranda" is one of the Christina Ricci's lesser known films that were made around 2001 and 2002. Back then she was often seen in smaller projects that went straight to video in USA - such as "The Gathering" and "Prozac Nation" - and like these not-so-great-and-not-so-bad films, the greatest merit of "Miranda" turns out my favorite actress Christina Ricci herself playing a mysterious woman named Miranda. American Miranda walks into an old library in Yorkshire (that is going to be demolished) and has a passionate affair with Frank (John Simm) a lonely librarian who loves Elvis.

I said "mysterious," but actually there is nothing truly mysterious about the character of Miranda. We all are aware that she is not what she looks from the very beginning and it is not hard to detect the secrets of her. But in "Miranda" (of which not-so-complicated story is told from his point of view) Frank is the last person to know that and we are supposed to swallow that premise.

This is a familiar story about a man who makes a wrong choice, but as the quirky animation at the opening credit part and the location of a quiet town of Scarborough suggest, the film is not so much a noir film as an off-beat romantic comedy thriller. Miranda (or Christina Ricci) is no femme fatale and she never looks like one, but I am not sure this is intentional or not.

The film's too simple story cannot really be involving and its characters are not particularly interesting. The film's laid-back pace doesn't help when the quirky film (which should have been much quirkier) does not have much to offer except a few funny moments and the fine performances from the two leads. The film directed by Marc Munden also features John Hurt as her father/mentor figure and a very weird character played by Kyle MacLachlan.

"Miranda" is not a bad film, but it is not a good film, either. Obviously it wants to be something unique and original, but it seems it doesn't know in what way."

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