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Grade • B
DVD • If Steven Soderbergh is retiring from moviemaking, as he's claimed, the thriller "Side Effects" isn't a bad way to go out.
It starts with frail Emily (Rooney Mara) feeling depressed when her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) finishes a prison term for insider trading. Emily sees a shrink, Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), who prescribes a new anti-depressant — but the drug's side effects include sleepwalking, or for Emily sleep-stabbing.
Soderbergh puts a smooth polish on Scott Z. Burns' script, which has some clever twists and sly commentary about pharmaceutical-industry marketing. Mara ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo") holds the wild plot together with her quicksilver performance. —
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