The Nines is very hard to describe. You could call it "high concept": it combines elements from slapstick comedy, reality-genre, horror, science fiction, and tragedy to form a daring film that's as captivating as it is confounding. It doesn't really have any peers as far as I know, but its distant cousins include Mulholland Drive, Donnie Darko, Melinda and Melinda and All That Jazz (a motley crew, I admit). When you see it, you'll understand.
The movie begins as a distraught TV actor (Ryan Reynolds) goes on a humorously self-destructive rampage that starts with him burning down his house and ends in a crack-induced car crash. After he's caught by the police, he gets put under house arrest -- but he doesn't have a house, so his agent places him in the home of another client, a writer who happens to be out of town. Confined in a stranger's home, Gary has some strange experiences that lead him to believe the house may be haunted. He meets his creepy-but-alluring neighbor, Sarah (Hope Davis), and spends time with the woman assigned to watch him, Margaret (Melissa McCarthy). His interactions with these two characters are exhilarating yet disconcerting -- something is wrong with his little world, but he just doesn't know what it is.
The movie is in three distinct parts, and the three leads play different characters in each part. Each part has its own style and tone, too, and first-time director John August even goes as far as shooting each part using different film types. I won't elaborate on what occurs in the second and third segments, but they are connected, in a way, to the first and to each other. McCarthy is the intended star of all three (she's John August's real-life favorite actress), but I think Hope Davis steals the show, and she's "pitch" perfect in the first and third roles, which she must play with a difficult mix of disdain and enthusiasm to make the whole thing work (again, you'll understand when you see the movie).
It's a trippy movie, the kind I might normally trash without mercy. But in this case I recommend you give it a chance. However, if you really want to enjoy it as much as possible, try not to read anything more than this review. The surprises add another dimension that you lose if you know what's coming.
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