The Spanish Prisoner

9 times out of 10, when a film doesn't quite work, it has everything to do with the integrity of the story in play. Oddly enough, David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner" is in that 10% of movies that suffer tremendously at the hands of epidermal issues, despite featuring a solidly structured narrative. Generally known for his terse, vulgar, and realistic depictions of human conversation, Mamet adopts a surprisingly "PG-rated" approach to telling this story, using overly proper language and formalities to get his characters' points across. This hamstrings things, as the audience has a hard time believing that characters actually talk like this. The occasionally stilted acting layered onto these words doesn't help either, ultimately steering the audience into a "chicken/egg" type of debate with themselves on who's to blame for the artificiality of it all. Is that kind of dialogue simply impossible for any actor to speak believably? Or is the acting not skilled enough to deliver the perfectly reasonable lines? It's hard to say without reading the script, but I'm sure both are of relatively equal blame. Other than these shockingly cosmetic issues, though, it's a really fun ride. The plot is just a few narrative flourishes ahead of you, allowing you to feel as though you're in capable hands, but whilst throwing you the proverbial bone every now and then to make you feel intelligent. I'm sure this was calculated. Overall, it's a solid, yet audibly imperfect watch.