Based loosely on Arthur Schnitzler's text "Reigen/Liebelei," Love In The Time Of Money depicts a human concatenation of sexual liaison between individuals who hardly know each other and could care less. And to what end? I, for one, could hardly decipher a reason for this exercise in existential malaise and gratuitous fornication. Despite the film's auspicious provenance (it credits Robert Redford as an executive producer and Sundance Institute as a progenitor), a cast of talented actors, and a moment or two of artistically consequential cinematography, I was thoroughly disappointed by what impressed me as a pointlessly languid depiction of desultory sex engaged in by aimless, unhappy people. Remarkably, Peter Mattei's direction and script were so poorly realized that even an inspired and almost always entertaining actress like Jill Hennessy turned in a performance that fell flat on its face in several early scenes of this woefully misguided project. Her painful, uncharacteristically self-conscious portrayal of an affection-starved wife on the prowl was, in fact, so stilted and motivationally confused that I was actually embarrassed for her as I forced myself to watch! There were, however, a few moments in the middle of the picture when I thought (hoped) that something of interest was germinating on the screen. As, for example, when Steve Buscemi in the role of an aspiring painter attempts to get Rosario Dawson, playing a secretary employed by the art gallery where he intends to show his canvases, to model for him. But once the tension in this duet of awkward seduction quickly and inevitably devolves into meaningless sex I was sadly reminded once again of how Mattei's vision of alienated 'love' refused to get out of its own way for even a minute's respite. ...I submit these comments as a service to those who are contemplating what I was unable to avoid.
