Metacritic Film

Air I Breathe, The

Starring Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brendan Fraser, Julie Delpy, and Emile Hirsch

MPAA RATING: R for violence, language and some sexual content/nudity

THINKFilm
Crime  |  Drama  |  Romance
minutes | Color
Mexico / USA
Released In Theaters January 25, 2008

Inspired by a Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four key emotions – Happiness, Sorrow, Pleasure, and Love – The Air I Breathe is told in four short fables, each built around a character who embodies one of these key emotions. In Happiness, a timid banker who impulsively bets every cent he has, and then some, on a supposedly “sure thing.” In “Sorrow,” a rising pop star whose contract falls under the control of a ruthless crime boss, and his corrupt nephew. In “Pleasure,” a man who can see into the future of everyone he meets, but is totally blind when it comes to his own; and in “Love,” a doctor who pines for a woman he can never possess, only to find that he suddenly holds her life in his hands. Though each of the characters believes that his or her life is governed by hazard and chance, their unbridled emotions, impulsive choices, and reckless moves all prove one universal truth: character is destiny, and each of us makes our own fate. (THINKfilm)

WRITTEN BY
Jieho Lee
Bob DeRosa

DIRECTED BY
Jieho Lee

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

37 / 100

Critic Reviews

63 TV Guide
Lee deserves a lot of credit for attempt the same kind of complex story structure Quentin Tarantino made look so easy in "Pulp Fiction": Like Tarantino's interlocking stories, Lee's four segments occur achronologically and come full circle in a neat twist at the very end.
50 The New York Times
An ingenious contraption that holds your attention for as long as it whirs and clicks like a mechanized Rubik’s Cube. After it’s over, however, you may find yourself scratching your head and wondering if there was any purpose to this sleek little gizmo.
50 New York Daily News
The source for Jieho Lee's The Air I Breathe is an ancient Chinese proverb about the four cornerstones of emotion - love, pleasure, happiness and sorrow. But Lee and co-writer Bob DeRosa went 0-4 with their convoluted screenplay, making me thankful they didn't try to adapt the Seven Deadly Sins.
50 USA Today
Each story has its moments, but "Air" lacks an overarching vision.
38 New York Post
Situations get increasingly ridiculous, and none of the characters ever seems like anything but a screenwriter's sketch.
30 Variety
Stellar thesps gamely strive to elevate the one-note material, but gravity ultimately defeats them in this relentless downer.
30 Village Voice Ella Taylor
The destiny-versus- responsibility hand-wringing is Philosophy 101, the camera angles straight out of film school, and the pacing strictly music-video. Plus, the ta-da! twist ending is foreshadowed roughly 20 minutes into the action, for those still interested.
30 The Hollywood Reporter
A top-notch varied group of actors, no doubt attracted by the colorfulness of their roles, has been assembled, but their hardworking efforts are ultimately done in by the supremely pretentious nature of the material.
30 Los Angeles Times
A stew of cheap irony, ponderous but meaningless allegory, violence and pretension, the movie is all borrowed style and calculated pandering. It does, however, get more ludicrous by the minute. So in that sense, it's good for an occasional laugh.

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