I found this to be a satire more than anything else. It certainly wasn't a 'comedy' in the conventional sense, although it is billed as a comedy/drama.
It's a satire on people generally, those who are dissatisfied with their lot in life and want to become somebody else, somebody 'better'. Alas, consequences inevitably follow.
Paul Giamatti is a good actor, but he often can't 'carry' a movie. He's much more effective in supporting roles.
The star of this show, in my opinion, was David Strathairn as the mad scientist Dr. Flintstein (compare Frankenstein). Unfortunately, Strathairn, long a superb actor, didn't get much screen time. But he plays his part with a straight face from start to finish, and I found him hilarious in a very understated way. The ever-so-proper, ever-so-earnest, flat-out lunatic who should have been locked in a cage long ago.
This was a great idea for a biting satirical movie, but it is so ponderously handled that it just never really came together. Along with other things, it was too often confusing. I give it a five for adequacy, but it should have been much better.
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Overmarz87
14 years ago
What i did like about Cold Souls is the design of the soul extractor machine that resembled an apple stereo system, but the story. For the same reason i stopped paying attention to synedoche is the same reason i stopped paying attention to cold souls. Both stories get lost in the 2nd act swamp.
Cold Souls just does a better job of launching you straight into the plot. While synedoche meanders slowly like a awkward clumsy monkey.
Cold souls had its moments like the introduction to the dr. and Giamatti haveing to rent out a russian poet's soul but unfortunately the jokes are few and far between.
Meh.
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