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Kevin Spacey's name is being tossed about once again as a potential Best Actor Academy Award nominee. With a plethora of outstanding performances from leading men this year, it's tough to handicap the upcoming race. Spacey's impressive repertoire of films outshines most of his probable competitions', but does he deserve a nomination for "The Shipping News?" I'm going to have to hesitantly say, in my opinion, no.

"The Shipping News" is an outstanding adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by E. Annie Proulx. Telling the story of Quoyle (Spacey), a man with zero self-esteem who loses the wife that was never really his to begin with, the film follows his adventure as he moves his young daughter to the inhospitable climate of Newfoundland. His aunt, played with grim determination by Dame Judi Dench, convinces him that a fresh prospective would do both he and his daughter good. Upon arriving in Newfoundland, the family reestablishes their ancestral home and Quoyle learns the hard lesson of his family's history. Thrown into the mix is a love story between the widow Wavey (Julianne Moore) and Quoyle. Wavey lost her husband at sea and gave birth to a son who was born with a defect due to her grieving (at least that's the story the gossipy town folk like to spread around).

Filmed on location in Newfoundland, the scenery is stark, vivid, cold and uninviting yet breathtakingly beautiful. Unfortunately, the story comes across as cold and uninviting as the climate. Despite a cast of fine actors, including Scott Glenn as the editor of the paper, Rhys Ifans and Pete Postlethwaite as newspaper writers, and Jason Behr (his accent was hard to swallow, but his performance was fine despite that glitch) as Glenn's estranged son, “The Shipping News” never takes off. The film drags - it's a slow moving dramatic yarn that takes patience to get into. If you have the patience, "The Shipping News" will reward you with an artistic tale of love, loss, and rebirth. If you don't, then you'll find, as I did, a film that just didn't quite deliver.

Overall Grade: D

"The Shipping News" is rated R for some language, sexuality and disturbing images.


Director: Lasse Hallström
Producer: Irwin Winkler
Screenplay: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton
Film Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Production Designer: David Gropman
Composer: Christopher Young
Costume Designer: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Casting: Suzanne Smith
Art Direction: Karen Schulz Gropman, Mark Laing, and Peter Rogness
Set Decoration: Patricia Larman and Gretchen Rau

Quoyle - Kevin Spacey
Wavey Prowse - Julianne Moore
Aunt Agnis - Judi Dench
Petal Bear - Cate Blanchett
Jack Buggit - Scott Glenn
Dennis Buggit - Jason Behr
Bunny - Alyssa, Kaitlyn, and Lauren Gainer
Tert X. Card - Pete Postlethwaite
Nutbeem - Rhys Ifans
Billy Pretty - Gordon Pinsent
Babysitter - Katherine Moenning

Photo © 2001 Miramax Films. All Rights Reserved.