Adapted from Patrick Marber’s hit play, Closer stars four of the most astonishingly beautiful people at the turn of the century – Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman – tapping into just the ugliest, nastiest parts of human nature. That might have been a bummer, but Mike Nichols, in his next to last film, brings a light touch to even the heaviest material, and here leaned on his theatre background to workshop vulnerable, shaded, even surprising performances from his A-list cast. It’s a little overwrought, a touch dated now – three bars of “The Blower’s Daughter” and it’s an instant time machine to 2000 – but still a rewarding revisit. – Kimberley Jones
