Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

dallasryan One of Peter Gallagher's best, and a very good Soderbergh film overall. Also William Fichtner is always fun to watch. Gallagher plays a role that is indeed a very complicated one, as the person he is playing is a very deeply troubled soul with a lot of self loathing shame that he condemns on himself and which his character's brother condemns on him as well. Gallagher's character leaves a woman he loved years before, for no rhyme or reason(actually a little bit of a reason, but not enough to constitute one leaving), and his character vanishes out of her life for many years before returning back into her life again. Gallagher plays the character with such likability that you feel for his character's confusion of himself, and his nomadic ways of being able to just leave on people he cares about, just like that. You feel for his character in being the black sheep in his brother's eyes and his indifferent ways. A Self Study of a person's confusion and their search for self love as well as love from another person and also walking the line with themselves between right and wrong and trying to make amends for past wrongs. Worth a watch for the deep, precise performance of Peter Gallagher.

seymourblack-1 Steven Soderbergh's highly enjoyable remake of the 1949 film noir "Criss Cross" is a story about a group of characters whose interactions have a critical bearing on the outcome of a planned heist. The deceptions, betrayals and double-crosses involved complicate the already tense relationships between them and provide the basis for a variety of plot twists that ensure that the action never gets dull. The presence of a non-linear narrative, dramatic close-ups and shots within which the main protagonist is seen framed within a confined area, are all faithful to the classic film noir style and the inclusion of some strong colour sequences, not only identifies the time spans being depicted but also contributes to the movie's off-beat atmosphere.In "The Underneath" an apathetic drifter whose life has no orthodox focus finds that the resultant void within him is occupied by his most powerful obsessions and it's these obsessions that determine the directions that his life takes. Michael Chambers (Peter Gallagher) was a compulsive gambler who, in the past, ran up enormous debts that led to him having to leave is home and wife in Austin, Texas. Some years later, after having squared up all his debts and given up gambling, he returns to his hometown to attend his widowed mother's wedding.Michael's return isn't welcomed by his brother David (Adam Trese), who's a police officer. He despises Michael for not being around when his mother needed him most and also for not turning up for his father's funeral. David is also secretly hooked on Michael's ex-wife Rachel (Alison Elliott) and is resentful because he anticipates that Michael will try to rekindle his relationship with her. Rachel, who is now involved with a local nightclub owner and small time gangster called Tommy Dundee (William Fichtner) is extremely bitter about the circumstances under which Michael left and the problems that she subsequently had to face alone.Michael's future stepfather Ed Dutton (Paul Dooley) helps him to get a job as a driver in the armoured car company where he's employed but Michael's attention soon becomes concentrated on getting back together with Rachel. She's initially hostile to any reconciliation but later gives Michael some encouragement and they meet in secret. On one of these occasions they're discovered together by Tommy who's an insanely jealous psychopath. In order to extricate himself from an extremely dangerous situation, Michael quickly invents a story about a proposal to steal a large consignment of money which is due to be transported by his company. Tommy agrees to take part in the robbery but things don't go according to plan and after the heist, the number of betrayals and twists that follow bring events to a surprising and fascinating conclusion.Peter Gallagher successfully conveys Michael's consistent indifference to the feelings and needs of those who are closest to him and also portrays his character's selfishness and self-destructive nature very effectively. Alison Elliott draws a clear distinction between Rachel's personality as it was before Michael's enforced departure and the more embittered person that she became later. The supporting cast are also very good with William Fichtner making a particularly strong impression as the extremely violent Tommy.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) Steven Soderbergh always has interesting things to say about small Texas towns and the film The Underneath is one of his more interesting and articulate. Peter Gallagher stars as Michael Chambers, a gambler who returns to his small rural town for his mother's nuptials. While in town he tries to reignite an old flame with his ex-girlfriend, Rachel, but this leads to more problems than she's worth. Michael finds himself in a dangerous situation when Rachel's fiancée, Tommy, played by the hugely underrated William Fichtner, finds out about Michael. The Underneath has all of that familiar indie Soderbergh feel that is complete with suspense, mystery, ambiguity, and characters whose personal issues go far and beyond what the normal person living the normal life is used to.The Underneath is a slow moving film that starts out seeming fairly pointless at first. But as it develops it grows more and more interesting. The noir-ish atmosphere combined with Soderbergh's tense cinematic style keeps this film quietly engaging. For a while it feels like a film that doesn't have much purpose and seems to be pretty straightforward. The first half of the film follows Michael as he tries to rebuild his relationships with all the people he abandoned years ago when he lost a substantial amount of money while betting. He tries to rekindle his love with Rachel, tries to make his mother happy with him again, and tries to keep his brother from hating him. The first half of the film holds no surprises but raises interesting questions and keeps you around waiting for more.Then comes the second half of The Underneath where things really kick off and it shapes into the film that it had set out to be from the opening suspenseful tone. The mystery builds and we become innately fascinated by what is going on. The plot twists and turns right up to the very last shot which throws the entire story for a loop. It's great filmmaking and excellently engaging storytelling on an intriguingly small scale. There's nothing flashy about The Underneath, but that's what one should expect from Soderbergh.I wouldn't say that this is a film for everybody, but fans of Soderbergh would be foolish not to check it out. It's a film with a great story, a compelling atmosphere, an consistently suspenseful tone, a good script, and decent acting. I don't know that there's much more that I could want from this fine little film.

ccthemovieman-1 I read somewhere where this film was supposed to be a remake of the 1949 film noir, "Criss Cross." I found the latter to be disappointing but it was still better than this film. This movie is a "neo-noir" since it's modern-day and it's in color, two things that purists would make it be disqualified for film noir status. The biggest negative to it, however, wasn't the cinematography (that was fine) but the muddled storyline. Hey, some of '40s Dashiell Hammett stories were similar but I didn't care for some of those either. The filmmakers here did not help the situation by placing flashbacks into the story what seemed like every three minutes. No wonder it was the keep up with this story. It was ridiculous! What happens is that by the 45-minute mark, their is so much confusion nobody cares anymore. I know I didn't.