This is what happens when you force Ryan Reynolds to act instead of just letting him be the unstoppable force of universal nature that he seems to be.

I actually love these sort of weird fail-films or strange-films.  These films with huge actors, that for whatever reason just don’t land quite right.  I’d say it’s Keanu Reeves who has the biggest number of them, and that’s because he’s such a good guy and so willing to experiment in whacky art things.  Most people have probably never even heard of Knock Knock (2015), Neon Demon (2016), The Bad Batch (2016) and Siberia (2018).  But they’re all super-weird to bad Keanus.

On the surface of it, it doesn’t seem like Ryan Reynolds does dabble in weird-film space as much.  You could argue this is “early work” but he’d already been in Blade Trinity (2004) and that basically sets him up to be the “actor-character” we mostly love (or possibly hate), which is more or less Deadpool, rated from PG to R depending on the film.  In fact, if you look at imdb you could be forgiven for thinking Reynolds only ever does Deadpool.

So, The Nines.  Freaking weird.  I get the feeling it’s a film they tried to bury because there isn’t a single decent quality trailer on youtube anywhere, not even the official one.  If you watch a trailer, you might get the feeling it’s somewhere between Free Guy (2021) and The Number 23 (2007).  And I mean, it is and it isn’t.

I tell you who should watch it.  Fans of Christopher Nolan.  Because they’ll get to experience all the same levels of convolution without their innate cult-addiction.  And then they’ll know what normal people feel when watching a Nolan film.  The story is complicated, like an onion, like a layer cake, like a series of overlapping and transcendent realities all paused around the core being of one or maybe three guys who are the same guy or are they?  And it all makes sense in the end, but I’m not sure it’s mind-blowing, just like I’m never really sure Nolans are actually mind-blowing.

Where this different from a Nolan is it isn’t all washed out in auteur blue-grey and there isn’t a dead wife.  And it is delightfully tonally inconsistent.  Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve seen a film throw in so much stuff.  It also does a bit of a whack Tarantino/Wes Anderson and uses Chapters… and in this you really need the chapter headings as a space-break.  Because every new chapter is really more like a new book.  You have to do a mental reset, and pony up for a whole new ride, with some weird overlaps.  At the end of the film you’ll probably still be trying to do some of the algebra necessary to make it add up, or divide, or quadratic.  Although it does give you a fairly easy out.

You have Ryan Reynolds, and he’s your main guy.  Then Melissa McCarthy, of all people, is probably the leading lady, and in some films that makes sense but I’m not sure it does here.  But again, the strange changes in tone throughout mean maybe it could make sense?  Octavia Spencer is in it, as is a very young Elle Fanning (Dakota Fanning’s sister).  So it’s a solid cast.

Look, it really doesn’t quite feel like it gels.  Reynolds seems so wrong when pushed into this convoluted “acting” space.  The story is rather intriguing, as are the constant tone shifts and super unusual structure.

It might not gel, but I also didn’t hate it, and really felt compelled to keep watching.

J* gives it 3 stars.