content: This movie could have been great. Russell Crowe is, despite the not so well written screenplay and mediocre plot, very convincing in his role, in fact he is the only one who makes a pretty good job in this movie - Phoenix was not bad. But that just because Russell Crowe in an excellent actor. The movie fails because it was bad told, and not well directed. You couldn't identify nor share the characters feelings because of the large distance there seemed to be between them and the audience, and that's where the director fails, in the telling of the story.