Still can not believe I managed to see this movie without falling asleep. I think it was because it contained some traditional Portuguese music, which gives it an exotic and unusual touch. At the beginning of the movie I thought that Laurie Anderson would have anything to do with it, the music of Mark De Gli Antoni and some of the text recalls her albums! I noticed that the Art Direction is made by someone with a Portuguese name which may explain the presence of "fado" (the traditional Portuguese music). Julianne Moore and Matthew Broderick give their best in these crazy, unusual and pointless roles in a movie full of pointless and pretentious scenes and narrative solutions. I imagine the authors with a glass in their hands at any party full of New York intellectuals saying that the public is ignorant and does not understand a work of art like this... Who knows?

"What do I know about man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes." -Samuel BeckettMarie and Bruce tell me what I otherwise often take for granted about radishes, for me an apt metaphor for long-term relationships. Marie dwells on her disgust for her husband, Bruce, ad nauseam, and she continues to "bite" into him, taste the disgust anew, and "bite" again. This disgust seems to be the driving force behind the reverie that leaves her craving for that radish all over again. Bruce goes about his day, being the radish, knowing it, accepting it, even flaunting it in the face of Marie's disgust, vised between her gritted teeth. Some dialog reflects apt wisdom from John Gray's Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, and Deborah Tannen's You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Taste for radishes may be something acquired, as is taste for theater of the absurd. Bravo Wally and Tom. I love Beckett, Pinter, Ionesco, Stoppard, ... and you.

Shawn's 'Bruce and Marie' has that feel of a conversational play. Well, it is based on Shawn's own play and portrays a day in the life of two couples about to end their dysfunctional marriage. Now, I did find the movie somewhat enjoyable mostly because of the comedic parts and the performances. However, in a conversational movie, dialogue is of primary importance and here it just fails to have that effect on the viewer. The lines are too ordinary and appear to lack the salt that makes meat tasty and this is where 'Bruce and Marie' lags behind. It needed more punchlines. Yet, Matthew Broderick and Julianne Moore make this an entertaining banter. Many have failed to see that Moore's Marie was supposed to be annoying. It's what years of bad marriage does. It makes someone more irritable and crankier while on the other end Bruce is more relaxed and at the same time seeking comfort elsewhere. So, in a bad marriage, one is either bitter and lonely or one is lonely and seeking comfort somewhere outside. The interaction between the characters are fun to watch. The dream sequences are well shot as Shawn manages to express that dreamy feel of the scene. The director does make his point clear and the film ends beautifully.

I was very impressed with this movie, the acting was great,the writing was great, the sets were great. very little to say bad about this movie, which follows the end of the beginning of the end of a marriage. people say things outloud that one might say in one's head and the results are comical, insightful, and thoughtprovoking.among the dozen or so movies i saw at sundance this year, with a complete package, i put this in my top 5.