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Review

After their successful teaming in Jerry Maguire, the thought of director Crowe and actor Cruise making an American adaptation of Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish cult film Open Your Eyes seemed a perfect fit. Cameron could find inspiration in the "is-it-a-dream-or-not" scenario, while Tom would revel as a narcissistic playboy who finds true love. Despite some impressive visual flourishes and effectively eerie "Twilight Zone"-like happenings, Vanilla Sky fails to fully capture the hypnotic beauty of the original film, or set a solid foundation all its own. Giving an emotional though one-note portrayal, Cruise plays David Aames, a wealthy business scion who becomes caught in a nightmare after he casually drops his latest affair (Diaz, who makes the most of her few scenes) upon meeting the beautiful Sofia (a bland Cruz reprising her role from the original film). With fantasy and reality now blurred, David attempts to piece together the puzzle, and keep his new relationship with Sofia afloat. Unfortunately, many compelling scenes of David's numerous personal relationships are offset by pretentious and often confusing dramatics. As such, the film never takes flight as it could have.