'Side Effects' is a middling effort from director Steven Soderbergh
The plot in 'Side Effects' is part social commentary, part film noir, but the twists in the story are more ingenious than believable.
Rooney Mara stars in 'Side Effects.'
Barry Wetcher/Open Road Films/AP
Steven Soderbergh, who recently had a surprise hit with the male stripper movie 鈥�Magic Mike,鈥� has followed it with 鈥淪ide Effects,鈥� a twisty thriller he claims will be his last feature film. (Don鈥檛 believe him.)
If so, he鈥檚 done worse 鈥� 鈥淭he Girlfriend Experience鈥� and 鈥�Contagion,鈥� for example 鈥� but he鈥檚 also done better.
Rooney Mara plays Emily, a highly distraught woman whose addiction to anti-depressants encompasses a plot that is equal parts social commentary and lurid film noir. Nothing is quite what it seems in this film, which costars Jude Law as Emily鈥檚 pill-dispensing psychiatrist, Catherine Zeta-Jones as his rival and Emily鈥檚 former therapist, and Channing Tatum as Emily鈥檚 husband in what amounts to a glorified cameo. Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns maintain a tone of taut creepiness, but the plot鈥檚 double and triple crosses are more ingenious than believable. Grade: B- (Rated R for sexuality, nudity, violence and language.)