For his directing debut, Ewan McGregor has chosen a project that is nothing if not challenging. The complex and abrasive books of Philip Roth are notoriously difficult to adapt for cinema and this Pulitzer prize-winning period drama about a New Jersey family rent apart by the political actions of the daughter is no exception. You get the sense that McGregor is too in thrall to the authoritative voice of the material to put much of his own stamp on to the film. It’s visually polished, drenched in the kind of Edward Hopper Americana that the militant daughter of McGregor’s character rails against. But there’s a crippling lack of emotional depth and honesty – it’s hard to decide which is more stridently melodramatic, the bombast of the score or the shrill performances.
