Rent At First Sight (1999)

Ham and cheese in large helpings - At First Sight review by RD

Oh dear, how can they make a film with such a clever inside story into such a cheesy mess?

It doesn't start well, Amy is talking to Virgil at the bus stop, Virgil is doing a very good Stevie Wonder impersonation with rolling head, toothy smile and looking very much like a blind person to the audience. However after some minutes of talking Amy suddenly gasps and says "Oh you're blind!" in a moment of complete shock at something the audience already knew right from the start. We're ahead of you Amy.

Amy is a divorced senior partner of a New York Architect's business, only one problem - she looks about sixteen (and acts like it) complete with spindly teenager legs. There's an ever-widening credibility gap in this film already.

The central part of the plot is Virgil, blind from birth, and makes a stab at showing the problems of suddenly gaining sight along with the stress and enormous problems this can bring. This is an intelligent and touching plot, however it's immersed in a storyline with dialogue that is so dumbed-down and shallow it is swamped in a very cheesy and trite film. Each scene is so artificial and gooey, and the acting is hammy, superficial, trivial and is really annoying throughout.

Not a great film, far from it.