Having multiple, uncertain realities can be a good plot device. The most successful film I’ve seen where the main character is seemingly living multiple lives and cannot figure out which one is real, if any of them, is Jacob’s Ladder. That was a truly horrifying film that wrapped up so neatly and so well that you could watch it again, even after knowing its secret, and still be entertained. Vanilla Sky is a film that seems to want to go for that same type of effect, but it gets so convoluted in its delivery that it ends up being tiring and almost incomprehensible. The only thing that saves it from being a total mish-mash is some key dialogue right at the end that spoon-feeds the audience so we can think back to see if it all makes sense. It does, sort of.

Tom Cruise plays David Aames, a young and wealthy man whose fortune was simply handed down to him when his parents passed away. His friends are casual acquaintances at best and the closest thing he has to a girlfriend is Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz), a woman he’ll happily sleep with but does not want to commit to. David’s only redeeming quality is that at least he’s honest about how meaningless his life is.

Then he meets Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz), a beautiful woman that his best friend Brian Shelby (Jason Lee) brings to a party. Sofia and David hit it off, but in the time they spend together they don’t do anything more than kiss. They spend most of the night talking and that, to David, turns out to be one of the most satisfying experiences he’s ever had with a woman. He’s smitten by Sofia, but before he can get too far from her door, Julie finds him and convinces him to go for a ride with her. It’s here that the film takes its first big turn and tries to make a moral statement about consequences of actions.

This isn’t a linear film. From the beginning we’re given the first hint of how the story will be delivered. Aames wakes up twice; both times are seemingly real. Was the first time he woke up the real time or was it the second? We are meant to assume it was the second time and from that point on what transpires is a series of events that may be real, may be imagined, or may be a little of both. Is Sofia really the person he thinks she is? Was it really Julia that was waiting outside the door? A lot of questions are raised, but unlike Jacob’s Ladder, Vanilla Sky doesn’t wrap up that coherently. There is an explanation given that sort of explains what happened, but it’s not a complete explanation. When you really start to think about things there is a hole or two or three or . . .

I started out enjoying Vanilla Sky and was intrigued throughout. I especially liked the strong performances by Cruise, Cruz, and Diaz. But by the midpoint, I was beginning to get irritated by it. Although my intrigue stayed, my enjoyment was running out. The choice of music started to get on my nerves -- it just didn’t fit in (as if songs were used just to use them) -- and then there is that ending that comes across as naturally as the clunker Spielberg tacked on to A.I. When someone starts spelling out the story to the audience, it’s a sign that the filmmakers are in way over their heads. Vanilla Sky aims high but ends up falling freely and gets only a **1/2 rating.

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