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Release Date: February 3rd, 2006 (Quad Cinema) by Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films. The Cast: Marlee Matlin, Barry Newman, Elaine Hendrix, Armin Shimerman, Robert Bailey, Jr., John Ross Bowie. Directed by Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente. BASIC PREMISE: On her way to a Polish wedding, Amanda (Maitlin), a mute photographer, explores the connection between neuroscience, quantum mechanics, and consciousness. Part documentary. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: As the sequel to What the Bleep!? Do We Know? , this partial documentary covers much of the same concepts with visual effects and a narrative to help you follow along. The inventive, witty opening sequence includes a montage of creative newsreels. The brief animated sequence with Quantum Man is amusing at best. Much of the material seems redundant and simply unorganized. The interviews with a wide variety of professionals are not as entertaining as looking at their different, creative computerized backgrounds while they talk—and they sure do talk a lot. Even the narrative doesn't pack enough of a punch to hold your interest as you follow Amanda through her observations. This time around, she lets her ditzy friend Jennifer (Hendrix) stay over her apartment. Very little happens between them and any humor falls flat. One of the funniest and liveliest scenes is at the Polish wedding where Amanda hallucinates all kinds of peptides, even the ones representing sexual urges. In a hilarious interview, Fred Allan Wolf, Ph.D, a physicist, lecturer and writer, claims that sex has something to do with time travel. Another entertaining interview is with Dr. Candace Pert. who says to a, When a lighting technician comes to fix a small light for her onstage during a lecture, she says to him, “Maybe God wanted me to meet you”. If only the rest of the film was as witty and entertaining. At a running time of two hours and thirty minutes, it overstays its welcome. SPIRITUAL VALUE: Many concepts make you think, but not as deeply as you would expect down this “rabbit hole”. Too many philosophical, scientific, existential, and psychological topics come together too quickly, which makes for a rather nauseating experience. The topic of religion does come up eventually, but is not explored enough. It would also have been interesting for Fred Allan Wolf, Ph.D to actually explain how he comes to the insane conclusion that having sex is connected to traveling into the future—or is he just trying to be a comedian? An analogy to a 2D world with “dots” that suddenly experience a 3D world doesn’t go far enough either with its implications about the mysterious of our 3D world. Directors Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente assume that the audience can fill in the giant leaps of thought, but that’s also assuming that the audience specializes in those fields to quickly fill them in. If that’s the case, they’ve alienated everyone else who wants to actually learn something new about underrated, important fields that could potentially open new doors of thought and make you look at your life in a different way. Unfortunately, What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole won’t accomplish that. INSULT TO YOUR INTELLIGENCE: Leaves too many unexplained gaps between thoughts. NUMBER OF TIMES I CHECKED MY WATCH: 6 IN A NUTSHELL: Great visuals with a few creative, witty sequences, but mostly unorganized, redundant, and nauseating. Only those actually specializing in its different fields of science, psychology, philosophy, and religion will leave without a headache. RECOMMENDED WAY TO WATCH: VHS/DVD Main Page Alphabetical Menu The "W" Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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