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'Hemingway's Garden of Eden' review

What did a legendary author ever do to deserve this?

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
December 9, 2010

Critic's Rating:

Jack Huston and Mena Suvari (Credit: Susan Allnut/Roadside Attractions)

(L-R) Jack Huston as David and Mena Suvari as Catherine in "Hemingway's Garden of Eden."

(L-R) Mena Suvari as Catherine and Jack Huston as David in "Hemingway's Garden of Eden."

Hemingway's Garden of Eden

Running time:: 111 minutes

Rated:: R

Cast:

Mena Suvari -

Catherine

Jack Huston -

David

Caterina Murino -

Marita

Richard E. Grant -

Col. Philip Boyle

Matthew Modine -

David's Father

See full cast

Director:: John Irvin

Genre:: Drama, Romance

Official Movie Web Site:: http://www.gardenofedenmovie.com/

Overall User Rating:: (0 ratings)

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David Bourne (Jack Huston), an American writer in the 1920s, embarks on a whirlwind romance with rich and eccentric Catherine (Mena Suvari) that ends in marriage. Their extended honeymoon in Europe immediately tests the relationship, as David defies his wife's domineering plans for his latest book and she invites sultry stranger Marita (Caterina Murino) into their sex life.

The verdict: Just like last year’s blink-and-you-missed-it Tennessee Williams drama “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,” “Hemingway’s Garden of Eden” leans on a literary pedigree in a transparent attempt to mask badly botched drama. Based on an incomplete and posthumously-published work by Ernest Hemingway, the story’s erotic explorations include gender role reversal, ménage-à-trois and sexual power plays. But veteran British director John Irvin (“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Raw Deal”) turns it into embarrassingly amateur melodrama, the kind of film festival folly that sits on the shelf for years and quickly disappears from acting resumes. From the silly dialogue (“I’m a girl, but I’m like a boy too!”) to the awkward matching haircuts forced on Huston and Suvari, “Eden” flirts with camp, but stifling boredom ultimately trumps any unintentional hilarity.