It's mostly the two main characters making out interspersed with other stuff that may or may not matter or make sense. The good reviews here are REALLY a stretch. Ends with the words "I miss you" .....but who cares.

Code 46 is a disquieting science fiction love story with themes that explore the moral impacts of advances in biotechnology. In the not-so- distant future, a married man investigates a counterfeiter and ends up the perpetrator of an ethical crime.The film stars Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton together with Togo Igawa,Natalie Mendoza,Nabil Elouahabi,Om Puri and Jeanne Balibar. The movie is directed by Michael Winterbottom, with screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. The soundtrack was composed by David Holmes under the name "Free Association".Set against the backdrop of a technologically advanced Shanghai, where people are only allowed to travel between countries with official passports called "papelles," the film charts the efforts of Seattle native William to get to the bottom of a contraband-papelle operation within the walls of a high-tech company that manufactures them. There he finds Maria, an enigmatic young woman who may or may not be selling the passports on the black market. William has a brief affair with Maria, which, despite his attempts to return home, causes him to become embroiled in an even bigger controversy in Shanghai.The film is a big disappointment despite having a talented cast in Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton. The viewer tend to get bored and probably less sympathetic and interested with the characters involved as they perform more like physically assembled beings from the laboratory rather than people with emotions. Aside from that,the premise is somewhat original in the sense it gives a person an aloof feeling especially with the characters involved namely William and Maria,we get to a point that we feel lack of empathy for both of them.I don't know if this was the purpose of the screenwriter but nevertheless,he should have made it a point to make the movie interesting and absorbing especially for the events that are about to happen and for the character involved in the story.Without this,the movie becomes a missed opportunity despite the fact that it could have been an intelligent science fiction that would have given a view of what the future of biotechnology in the years to come.

Interesting concept that just doesn't make it. I watched the whole movie, but had to read IMDb comments to find out what Code 46 meant. If/when it was explained in the film, I must have been in a coma, or possibly brain-dead by then. I only watched it for Tim Robbins. The fact that I did not know any of the other actors should have been a tip-off. We all have to start somewhere, but this film should not be it. As to the 'anti empathy virus virus'-Holy Utility Belt, Batman! Where were The Joker, The Riddler, etc? Also, why are the women all so damned ugly? If I want to see less-than-plain stick-figures, I'll just walk down the street. The best part of the film was the car crash. It was totally believable, and not over-the-top like most movie crashes.

I really wanted to like this film; and for the most part it fulfilled my expectations. The acting was above par as was the cinematography. Placed in a highly plausible near-future setting, the scenario of genetic violations had promise. The film had the potential to be one of the sci-fi greats.But I finished watching this film feeling that something was missing and it took me a while to put my finger on it.I believe the movie was let down by writing and/or direction that took too long to get to its main plot. Which would not have been a problem had it not failed to reward me for maintaining my interest along the way. Not that the film was slow, there were enough sci-fi near-future tit-bits for this buff (language, sets, plot, etc.), but I couldn't keep from thinking to myself "When are we going to get to the point?".Once there, somewhere about halfway through, the story picked up and we had a highly watchable futuristic flick.More attention to the script and direction, especially in the exposition, might have lifted the film from run-of-the-mill and turned it into a classic.My vote - Act 1 = 5, Act 2 = 9