After lighting up the screen in the 2001 release \Amelie,"" Audrey Tautou fails to deliver any sense of silver screen enchantment in ""Dirty Pretty Things,"" directed by Stephen Frears. Centering on the trials and tribulations of two illegal immigrants, Senay (Audrey Tautou) and Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), ""Dirty Pretty Things"" follows an unconventional plot line hampered by contrived dialogue.
As the movie begins, Okwe, a cab driver by day and hotel clerk by night, stumbles upon a horrific discovery that transforms his life. After receiving a service call to mysterious room 510, Okwe finds a human heart lodged in the toilet bowl. Startled by his findings, he reports the incident to his supervisor, Se??or Juan (Sergi Lopez). Juan remains unalarmed in the face of this seeming crisis, even explaining that strangers ""come to the hotel to do dirty things, and in the morning it's our job to make things look pretty again."" Soon, this dainty explanation leads Okwe and his friend Senay to discover deep secrets locked within the rooms of the hotel.
As though this plot structure was not complicated enough, Frears chooses to include two subplots focused on the evils of illegal immigration, extortion and prostitution. Though Frears' attempt to confront all the world's problems in an hour-and-47-minute movie is noble, this ultimately results in contrived characters and bouts of clich??d dialogue.
Because the subject matter is so complex, protagonists in ""Dirty Pretty Things"" function as mere shadows of characters. Okwe, the rebel fighting the system, is joined by equally shallow characters such as the saintly beauty Senay, and Juliette (Sophie Okonedo), the hooker with a heart of gold. Lines such as ""Love, for you and I there is only survival"" and ""Hold me"" further serve to belittle the intellectual content of this movie and leave the audience anticipating a swell of music from ""Days of Our Lives.""
Those looking for a reprise of Tautou's stellar ""Amelie"" performance will not find it in this film. Unfortunately, the time spent viewing ""Dirty Pretty Things"" could be spent on any number of other fascinating activities around campus. Watching the grass grow on Bascom Hill is equally interesting.
