Paul Haggis sure likes his multi-threaded dramas, in which lives intersect and secrets are revealed and we all learn valuable lessons about who we are. Hell, “Crash” won the guy an Oscar, so why not try and do it again, only this time take that concept around the globe? That’s just what he did with “Third Person,” which debuted at TIFF last fall, and is still without a domestic release date.
However, the film is opening overseas and the first trailer is here. Starring an ensemble that includes Liam Neeson, James Franco, Adrien Brody, Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde and more, the story centers on three couples in Rome, New York City and Paris, each dealing some kind of crisis. In NYC, Rick (Franco) battles his ex-wife Julia (Kunis) over their son, who she may have tried to kill; in Rome, a businessman (Brody) helps a random stranger save her her daughter from human traffickers (seriously) and in Paris, a writer (Neeson) tries to manage an affair with a hot, young protege (Wilde), while keeping his emotional distance.
It’s all overwrought, and ridiculous, and we’ll just let this assessment from TIFF speak for itself: “… it’s truly shocking just how far and wide Haggis misses the mark. ‘Third Person’ is an audacious failure, one that even its starry cast can’t save. With a trite script, and an even more glib thematic undercurrent, ‘Third Person’ is nothing short of an outright embarrassment.” Watch below. Update 4.18.14. The official domestic version of the trailer has arrived (which is good, because the international version got pulled down).
