I didn’t know what to expect from Knight and Day. On the one hand both Tom Cruise (not related to Penelope Cruz) and Cameron Diaz used to choose their movies well, and the trailer looked fun. On the other hand people told me it was bad. I went with mixed feelings and I must say the movie was GREAT! The people in the theater looked strangely at me constantly laughing. That is, it’s not a movie for everyone. But, it’s a brilliantly fun movie.

The movie is a fantasy adventure about Tom Cruise (and partially Cameron Diaz). The quickest way to describe it is to quote a brilliant post  by Emily Andrews on the topic of Tom Cruise where she explains why women are attracted to Cruise:

“But why the attraction? I think it's something which Dave describes well: a lot of energy coupled with mystique coupled with obvious emptiness. He makes no real demands, does not require change, has no complex reactions, is not brooding, is not thinking about another woman, is not necessarily even thinking about anything. He is pure action, not even necessarily directed action. If you spent an afternoon with him, probably it would be an adventure. He would crack a lot of jokes and jump on couches, maybe fly a fighter plane or two. It would be hilarious and undemanding, with an adrenaline rush or two, in the way that we remember, say, 3rd grade recess as being, or a trip to the theme park.”

This in short is the plot of the movie. The sweeping fun of action and what it brings out of you.

(Spoiler Alert (I guess): There is also a similar ending to the brilliant ending of Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman ends with Julia Roberts saying how when the knight in shining armor saved the princess: “ she saved him right back.” How the princess is also what brings light into his dark life. The movie fittingly ends with very bright colors of sunshine which is what falling in love with Diaz has to offer – her blond golden hair.)

The movie is a fantasy movie, a sensory film, of how it would feel like to be on a date with (somewhat “crazy, paranoid” ) Cruise, and how it would feel like to be on a date with sunny Diaz. The point of the movie is to transfer the sensation of drunk-not-from-wine and constantly dazed feeling of excitement and falling in attraction. It’s a deeply cute movie.

 
Ps. A small annoyed note. I think the choice of a black woman for the director of intelligence was because she symbolizes night. It’s clever, but I don’t like it.

(Ps2. One sad event after watching smart films is to look at reviews of it. For example, David Denby in The New Yorker writes that the movie is: “Jumpy, unmotivated, and senseless.")