All I See Is You
Dustin Chase
Blake Lively might be the new Cameron Diaz, both actors either have the worst taste in scripts, or simply little to no talent when movie must stand on their shoulders. In what sounds like a cheesy grocery checkout novel, All I See Is You is tailor made for the Lifetime channel. There is more drama in this movie than a week long run of Days of Our Lives. The plot quickly goes from curious, to eye-roll, like a sportscar accelerating zero to sixty in 9.2. Marc Forster (World War Z, Machine Gun Preacher) injects a bizarre sexuality to the film that’s both unnecessary and out of place. As the plot gradually becomes clear for the audience, the only way to sustain interest is trying to predict what ludicrous twist will happen next.
In her early teens Gina (Lively) lost her eyesight from a horrific car accident, claiming the lives of both parents. Now happily married, living in Bangkok with husband James (Clarke), a procedure is available that can restore her left eye to almost 20/50 vision. “You look different than I had in my head,” Gina says, seeing James for the first time. Their high-rise apartment is also not what she expected. Gina begins to change her looks and personality to match her new outlook on life. James feels neglected, no longer being the arm needed to guide his wife back and forth. Their life together begins to fall apart as they struggle with fertility issues in starting a family.
There is more drama in this movie than a week long run of Days of Our Lives.
“The only risk is if it fails,” Huston, playing the doctor admits. Of course, he wasn’t thinking about the infidelity, jealously, manipulation and the guilt that might come with this new sight. All I See is You revels in the need to introduce antics you might find in an E.L. James novel, even complete with blindfolds and tied wrists on a European train. The nudity notwithstanding, it’s when Gina and her sister visit a peep show in Spain that the film leans into gratuitous nudity for the sake of sex on screen. “If you could see yourself you would know we look stupid,” Jason says on a night out dancing before her eyesight is restored. If only Marc Forster could have seen what this movie looked like before he finished, maybe he would have seen the stupidity too.
The film is shot in a way that often gives the viewer a cinematic representation of light distortion or what Gina might be experiencing. I found this frustrating, false and repetitious. If eyes make you uncomfortable all the bleeding, redness and eyeball closeups might be enough to make you turn away from the screen. All I See is You is ultimately a film about control and that control shifting from one partner to another through the gift of sight. Instead of focusing on the emotional experience of regaining one’s sight, and the daunting psychology in that type of experience, this script disregards anything informative or educational in favor of cheap entertainment.
Final Thought
All I See is Lifetime.