The Movie that Almost "Neverwas": A DVD Review

If you look up the movie "Neverwas" online you find a movie that had release dates in Europe and other places, but, for the life of me, I cannot find one here in the States. There is no explanation of this, at least that I can see, and even though the movie suffers some rather significant flaws, considering the movies that manage to get released around here, you have to wonder why this one couldn't find a distributor.

The movie is produced by and stars Aaron Eckhart. Eckhart is definitely one of those stars to watch. He put in one of the best comedic performances you are ever likely to see in "Thank You for Smoking." If you haven't seen that, I strongly recommend you go out and find it and see it. In most ways, it is a much, much better movie that this one.

"Neverwas" is another movie that attempts to deal with insanity but, once again, does it with a way that you only see in Hollywood. Groups of people with wildly different psychoses are grouped together and forced into "group" together. This is also a movie that has a scene where a woman has a psychotic fit that ends with a jar she is holding being sent into the air just so the bits of gold foil inside of it can then slowly flit down around the characters in slow motion.

What is amazing about this movie is how many big-named stars are in it. In addition to Eckhart there is William Hurt, Jessica Lange, Nick Nolte, Brittany Murphy, Ian McKellan and Alan Cummings. In nearly every instance these people suffer from some kind of hurt past or insanity.

Eckharts is the son of Nick Nolte, whose character has long ago committed suicide when the story starts. Nolte was a writer who wrote a beloved children's novel that has become a classic. He based the main character on Eckhart's. However, the story masked the severe depressions and demons haunted the man.

Eckhart's character is a psychiatrist who returns to the asylum where his father repeatedly sought treatment, without success. He feels that, somehow, by doing this he can stop having the nightmares that keep him awake and come to terms with his father's suicide. While there he meets a man named Gabriel, who is played by Ian McKellan.

Gabriel seems to be suffering from a complete psychotic break. He hasn't even spoken for ages, until he sees Eckhart and then, suddenly, breaks his silence. It turns out that Gabriel's mind is filled with things that seemed ripped right out of "Neverwas" the mythical land that Nolte's character wrote about in that beloved book.

Is Neverwas real? Is Gabriel actually the exiled king of a mystical land? Eckhart begins to dig deeper, which seems like a violation of some kind of ethics or, at the very least, a conflict of interest.

Brittany Murphy is a woman who has loved the book and the land of "Neverwas" since her childhood. Of course, her childhood was also miserable. Jessica Lange plays Eckhart't mother.

What follows is interesting, but it somehow rings false. I just could not believe that Gabriel would be locked up with those people. There is a plotline introduced that seems to follow the Alan Cummings character, and then it is just dropped and forgotten about. I also had a hard time believing the ending. It just did not ring true to me at all.

In the real world mental disorders are profoundly terrible. People often know they are crazy when they are crazy, contrary to popular belief. Someone with OCD often knows that they need not open and close a door five hundred times before moving on to another room, but are powerless to stop themselves. Some schizophrenics actually know or have some idea that the thoughts in their head make no sense, but they cannot stop themselves form feeling them or thinking them.

In the movies the crazy people are often just slightly eccentric. They often can be allowed to exist in the world of their own making if just given enough room and understanding. It happened with Robin Williams' character in "The Fisher King" and it probably goes back further than that. I mean, when the Chief, at the end of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" runs away at the end, he is still crazy. More than likely he will be caught and then locked up again.

As such, I had a really hard time believing that the solution arrived at here, at the end of "Neverwas" was really the best thing for Gabriel. I also had no idea what Eckhart's character had done, if anything, for the half-dozen or so other people who were supposed to be his patients. As a doctor he seems woefully negligent except to one specific patient.

Jessica Lange is on the screen for maybe five minutes. She does little more than act a bit shrill and dunk.

Brittany Murphy is pretty to look at, but I have a hard time believing her in a role that requires her to come across as a smart journalist. Yes, I know that is probably a horrible stereotype and the young lady may be a genius. I am just saying after her other performances, this one seems a bit like Denise Richards as nuclear scientist in that James Bond movie.

In short, if you catch this one on cable, you may enjoy it. I have a hard time recommending you spend your money on the newly released DVD.