Who could have predicted that anarchic ex-Python Terry Gilliam wouldn't get on with the Weinstein brothers, eh? Tossed together for this would-be fairytale romp, they rowed like Burton and Taylor and the result is a bloody mess. Shame, because the pitch is strong - retooling the real-life folk-tale tellers as conmen who rip off gullible peasants with fake exorcisms, before facing true terror. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger show spark, charm and comic timing, but Gilliam never liked the script and his fix-as-you-film approach breaks the movie's back - the editing's choppy, the story nonsensical, the support either uncomfortable (a short-changed Monica Bellucci) or insane (an eccentrically dreadful Peter Stormare).
DVD Extras:
Two featurettes complement the feature, while Gilliam's dirt-free, dry chat-track nails the picture's problem: "I have a lot of ideas I try to put all in one scene. Then the editor and I try to carve out something that is understandable to an audience... I always get carried away."
