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'Inhale' review

Serious subject, silly movie

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
October 21, 2010

Critic's Rating:

Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger (Credit: Lewis Jacobs/IFC)

(L-R) Dermot Mulroney as Paul Stanton and Rosanna Arquette as Dr. Rubin in "Inhale."

(L-R) Rosanna Arquette as Dr. Rubin, Diane Kruger as Diane Stanton and Dermot Mulroney as Paul Stanton in "Inhale."

(L-R) Sam Shepard as James Harrison and Dermot Mulroney as Paul Stanton in "Inhale."

(L-R) Cesar Ramos as Ines and Dermot Mulroney as Paul Stanton in "Inhale."

Dermot Mulroney as Paul Stanton in "Inhale."

Inhale

Running time:: 83 minutes

Cast:

Dermot Mulroney -

Paul Stanton

Diane Kruger -

Diane Stanton

Rosanna Arquette -

Dr. Rubin

Sam Shepard -

James Harrison

Vincent Perez -

See full cast

Director:: Baltasar Kormakur

Genre:: Drama

Overall User Rating:: (0 ratings)

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Paul Stanton (Dermot Mulroney) and his wife Diane (Diane Kruger) are desperate to save their daughter Chloe (Mia Stallard), who suffers from a degenerative lung disease. With time running out, a doctor (Rosanna Arquette) informs them of an illicit option to circumvent the traditional donor wait list. So Paul sets off to Mexico in search of a businessman (Jordi Mollà) and a doctor (Vincent Perez) who might be able to help with black market organ trafficking.

The verdict: Here’s how Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” might have looked played with a straight face. “Inhale” is a silly exploitation thriller that confuses itself for an artful message movie. The brisk 83-minute running time doesn’t waste a second engaging with meaningful issues or ideas, instead confronting Paul with one obvious moral hurdle after another. It’s all executed in a breathless, sensationalist style that scoffs at credibility and borders on camp (without Mulroney’s low-key demeanor it surely would’ve gone all the way). Director Baltasar Kormákur had a couple breakout hits in his native Iceland—“Jar City” and “101 Reykjavík”—but already tried an English-language thriller that went nowhere—2005’s “A Little Trip to Heaven” with Forest Whitaker and Julia Stiles. Expect “Inhale” to follow suit.