mind numbingly dull

One of those dreaded films that tries so hard to be art-house chic yet never reaches its mark. I liked the hook of the film -- all stories take place at the same time on the same night in different parts of the world -- and thought the explanation of this was well executed but the stories all left me cold. The chapter that takes place in Helsinki had the most promise although it never lived up to its potential. Of the remaining 4 chapters, none were written well enough or acted well enough to make me care what what happened to the characters or their night. The chapter with Roberto Benigni was especially annoying and crass. He's such a one-trick pony and I've never liked the only one he does well.

It's too bad that such a great initial idea could turn out to be so dull. Perhaps the writer/director could work harder on character development rather than worrying about the hipness factor of this film.