At First Sight Review
by David Nusair (dnusair AT chat DOT carleton DOT ca)February 7th, 1999
At First Sight (Reviewed on Feb. 5/99)
Starring Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, Nathan Lane
What must it be like to be blind? Never being able to physically see anything, always touching for some semblance of that sensation. I respect blind people just because they're able to get through every single day despite such a huge hurdle to overcome.
In "At First Sight", Val Kilmer plays such a person. Blind since the age of three, he's just as competent as anyone else, provided he's familiar with his surroundings. He's employed as a masseuse at the local spa, he has lots of friends, and a sister who loves him and cares for him. All this changes, though, when he meets a vacationing architect, played by Mira Sorvino. They fall in love, and she changes his life. She moves him to New York and introduces him to a doctor who promises him his sight through a radical new operation. He accepts, and finds himself thrust into the world of the seeing. Nathan Lane enters the picture as a "sight therapist" who helps Kilmer understand what he's seeing.
"At First Sight" contains the restoration of sight to a blind man, but is more interested in the romance between Kilmer and Sorvino. And that's the major flaw of the movie. Not that Kilmer and Sorvino don't make an enjoyable and engaging couple; in fact, their chemistry is instantly believable.
No, the problem with "At First Sight" is that the filmmakers seem to think that we would prefer to witness endless scenes of Kilmer and Sorvino frolicking in parks, ice rinks, etc. I found the concept of restoring vision to a blind man to be fascinating, and was quite disappointed to come to the realization, around an hour into the movie, that Kilmer and Sorvino's romance was going to dominate the film.
Not nearly enough time is spent on Kilmer's adjustment to sight. I'd say it takes him about 15 minutes of screen time to get acclimitized to the world of the seeing. I would have liked to have seen a lot more of this process, and I especially would have liked to have seen more Nathan Lane. He's the stand-out here, and it's too bad that his part is such a minor element of the movie.
"At First Sight" isn't a bad movie by any means. It's just a disappointing one.
** out of ****
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