• Tweet

Two out of Five stars
Running time: 107 mins

Stylishly directed and superbly acted but ultimately disappointing thriller, thanks to an over-familiar plot and some laughably bad dialogue.

What's it all about?
Ewan McGregor stars as Jonathan McQuarry, an accountant who's befriended by suave lawyer Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) while working late one night. When they accidentally swap mobile phones, Jonathan answers a booty call from an attractive woman (Natasha Henstridge) and soon finds that he's stumbled into an anonymous sex club known as The List.

With Wyatt's encouragement, Jonathan throws himself into the lifestyle enjoyed by The List's members, but things change when he falls for a mysterious woman (Michelle Williams) he had briefly met before. However, as the film's title suggests, nothing is quite what it seems and Jonathan soon finds himself embroiled in a plot that involves murder, blackmail, kidnapping and multi-million dollar embezzlement.

The Good
The film is undeniably gorgeous to look at, thanks to stylish direction by Marcel Langenegger, who makes his feature debut here after cutting his teeth on commercials. In addition, McGregor and Jackman work well together (both are clearly having fun in the early scenes) and there's colourful support from the likes of Natasha Henstridge, Maggie Q and Charlotte Rampling as fellow List members.

The Bad
Sadly, however, the film is badly let down by its script, which is packed with laughably bad dialogue and plot twists you can see coming a mile away. Still, at least you can play 'Spot the lines written by Patrick Marber' if (or rather when) you get bored.

In addition, there's no chemistry between Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor (or between Williams and Jackman for that matter), which makes it hard to care about the characters. There are also several annoying loose ends in the badly thought out plot.

Worth seeing?
In short, this is ultimately disappointing and it's only really worth seeing if you're a hardcore fan of either McGregor or Jackman, although it is nice to see Natasha Henstridge on screen again, even if it's purely for shallow and obvious reasons.