Sundance
alumni Gregg Araki (Doom Generation, Nowhere) returns with this would-be romantic
comedy about love in the 90s. The good news is that Araki has made a film that
finally makes sense. The bad news is that he has found an entirely new way to
screw up a cohesive storyline. Splendor is a story about a woman who finds herself
torn between two men. Rather than make a choice, she convinces them to engage
in a new kind of relationship. An unexpected pregnancy soon complicates the already
absurd situation. The film's biggest problem is a slow pace and its take on un-original
subject matter. This theme worked much better in Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy. Still,
Araki has shown a slight amount of maturity as a filmmaker.
