Review: Blind

The last time Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore were paired on-screen it was in 1996 in the fairly decent dramatic thriller The Juror, in which her title character was menaced by his mob enforcer. Things are comparatively less melodramatic in their latest vehicle, Blind, directed by Michael Mailer and written by John Buffalo Mailer, both of whom are sons of the late literary giant Norman.

Moore plays Suzanne Dutchman, first introduced celebrating her 19th wedding anniversary to Mark (Dylan McDermott), a hedge funder who has obviously seen The Wolf of Wall Street one too many times. That he is involved in some shady shenanigans is no surprise to anyone but Suzanne, who is shocked when he's arrested and sent to jail for fraud. She's implicated as well, though she gets off with community service which she serves at a center for the blind.

It is there that she meets Bill Oakland (Baldwin), billed as the Indominus Rex of the center, a one-novel wonder whose career was cut short when he lost his sight (and his wife) in a car accident. He spends his time in the center, where he listens to volunteers read his students' essays to him. Suffice to say, the poised socialite does not take too well to the blustery and arrogant crank, though their initial hostility will unsurprisingly give way to something more romantic.

Once Baldwin tones down the Baldwinisms and the film settles into the couple's romance, Blind becomes a highly pleasant diversion. Baldwin and Moore's on-screen personas have always meshed very well together, and it's somewhat of a shame that the films they have appeared in together have never fully exploited their chemistry. For a time, Blind appears to do so but the film contains too many narrative strands, all of which possess wildly different tones. There's a hint that this might be a look at a Ruth Madoff-type character sketch, then there's Bill's mentorship of aspiring writer which plays like a retread of the 2011 French film The Intouchables (whose American remake The Upside will be released in 2018), and then there's Mark's overbaked jealousy and possessiveness - none of the strands are really interesting nor particularly developed, so they just feel like unnecessary clutter.

Despite the muddled narrative and, with the exception of Baldwin and Moore, broad performances from his cast, Mailer does a commendable job with his feature film debut, crafting a sleek and visually engaging film that somehow satisfies in spite of its various inadequacies.

Blind

Directed by: Michael Mailer

Written by: John Buffalo Mailer

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore, Dylan McDermott, Viva Bianca, Dorothy Lyman, James McCaffrey