'Lost in the Fire' lacks intensity, true grit

Media Credit: Courtesy of DREAMWORKS PICTURES LOST SOULS - Halle Berry stars in director Susanne Bier's "Things We Lost in the Fire" as Audrey, a grieving widow who finds comfort in her late husband's drug-addict best friend, Jerry, played by Benicio del Toro. When Audrey asks Jerry to move into the garage, he assumes that she's trying to help him, yet it turns out that she is the one who truly needs support.

Many people in Hollywood seem to think the surefire way to get a drama noticed come award season is to make sure it's really "gritty." Let's call it the "Crash" effect.

After that film's Best Picture Oscar win in 2005, a hyper-stylized sense of realism became the trend in major Hollywood pictures. As most successful things often become mere commodities in Hollywood, realism is now something that producers attempt to pepper into some big-budget films as though it were the essential ingredient to their Oscar-winning stew.

The people behind "Things We Lost in the Fire" think they have that ultimate recipe for Oscar gold. Start with a tragic and unexpected death, add a hearty helping of beautiful widow, sprinkle in a few ultra-precious children for good measure and don't forget the most important ingredient of all: one "gritty," but brief, scene of a the main character shooting up heroin. Surely, a recipe like that had many industry types salivating. Sadly, the elements don't add up here, and the resulting dish is a bit nauseating.

The film opens at a memorial service for Brian (David Duchovny), who was shot during an altruistic attempt to break up a domestic dispute. Left in mourning are his wife Audrey (Halle Berry), his two young children and his drug-addict best friend Jerry (played by perhaps the easiest guy in Hollywood to make look really strung out: Benicio del Toro).

Though Audrey has always resented Jerry, she quickly realizes she cannot deal with her grief alone and offers to let Jerry live in their garage. Though he initially thinks that Audrey wants to help him get clean, she soon reveals that she's the one who needs help. Jerry soon endears himself to the children and neighbors, as well as Audrey herself. It's not long before their relationship begins to teeter toward the sexual side. The film's attempts at suspense lie in the question of whether they will sleep together, but after a while even that tension begins to strain. By the end of the film, all of the characters are forced to confront the fact that Jerry cannot replace Brian, though they all try to use him in that way.

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