Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #49 Eyes Wide Shut
Box Office: $55.6 Million
Oscar Nominations: None
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 82/100
Available To Stream: Paramount+
This whole movie feels like an unsettling dream. It takes place in New York City but it doesn't look or feel like NYC at all. People behave oddly and seem to drift around Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. What I love most about this movie is that it's an anti-action movie. The protagonist of this movie is a coward. It's what happens when Bruce Willis just leaves the Nakatomi Tower and doesn't save everyone. It's about choosing to ignore awful things because the reality is too much to bare. Denial is an easier path.
This is Stanley Kubrick's last movie and he died right before it came out. This was released in July 1999 and he died that March. In fact, a week before his death he showed a final cut of the movie to friends and family. When it did come out, Kubrick's death and the orgy scene completely dominated the talking points around the movie. It opened strong at #1 in it's first weekend with $21.7 million dollars. By the next weekend, it was already in the 4th spot behind movies like The Haunting, Inspector Gadget and American Pie (and that was in it's 3rd weekend).
This shoot broke a record for the longest one in history at 400 days. Cruise, Kidman and Kubrick all agreed to take as long as necessary even as other movie shoots were practically begging Cruise to finish. This was all shot in London and that's why the NYC elements feel so odd. Kubrick was very afraid of flying so he hadn't left England in roughly 40 years despite growing up in New York. You're looking at a city based on his memories which I feel adds to the dreamlike quality surrounding the movie.
This is far from a perfect movie but it's also so unique and I appreciate it for that. The weird aloofness Cruise has when talking to other people works so well here. Nothing seems real but everything feels full of dread and is wildly intelligent. Sydney Pollack is perfectly cast as Zeigler, who is a man that we know is evil but is still someone Cruise's character chooses to care about because that choice is an easier one.
Eyes Wide Shut is a cynical and harsh look at humanity. It may be painfully accurate. Do we choose the simpler path even if it's not the right one? Is it worth fighting big and powerful entities or should we just take care of our families? It's easier to look past infidelity and keep the status quo but is that the best choice?
Any movie that asks these kind of questions is going to be captivating to me. Mix in fantastic direction and some great performances (especially Kidman, Pollack and Todd Field) and you end up with a very good movie. It's so interesting that Kubrick waited 12 years to make this movie and then died right when it was completed. Maybe he worked himself to death or maybe he just had one more story to tell.
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
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54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks