Well, I didn't read this thread until I'd been to see the movie itself, for the same reason that I never read reviews or even look at movie rankings on IMDB until I've seen it for myself. As a general rule, I find other people's opinions of films a poor guide to the film itself, because they see it through their own prejudices, beliefs and impressions - none of which are mine. But now that I've seen it...
It's good. Very good. I liked it very much. Possums has made much of the so-called 'cutesy' nature to be found in this movie, but I think that betrays his lack of focus. I also distrust anybody's opinion if they walk out of a film without seeing it through to the end. "Unbreakable", for example, whatever you may think of it, is pretty uninteresting until the last scene, at which stage the rest of it fits together much better. The film was not 'cutesy' just because it contained some moments which could be construed as cute. Sure, the scenes between Carrey and Winslet are cute at times, but then if you're trying to portray romance without any cuteness whatsoever, you're going to have a hard time making it realistic. Romance is cute, and if you want to make a film that hinges upon a love story without any cute elements at all, it's not going to be convincing.
The 'digital touch-ups' which he mentions are not at all misplaced or used for pointless effect. Take the scene where he's in the bookshop and the spines of the books gradually disappear - I didn't notice this until my friend sitting next to me pointed it out, and that's how subtle it was. Obviously it became more overt after that, but such touches were all over the film, and they were good because they show how our memory is dominated by the central events in a given recollection, and the details are easily manipulated, with or without Harry's mind device. Could you recall the names of all the books on the shelf behind you now in the order they appear on the shelf? Probably not, even though you look at that shelf everyday. It was making a point, and a good one at that.
The loop in the story could've been cheesey, but it wasn't precisely because of the sub-plot involving Harry and Mary that brings the second-time potential love crashing around Carrey and Winslet's ears (literally). They're not made for each other, their relationship isn't a match made in heaven, and they're not going to have any better chance the second time around than they did the first. That's how life is, there are no second chances, and no mind device is going to change that. So, for all possums' complaints about it being a major plot device, what the film actually shows is that the mind device won't do what we want it to do. In effect, it has no effect, and thus is removed from the story's overall message.
That's my two-penneth, anyway.
