Early viewers stone ‘Alexander’

Plus: Dustin Hoffman’s own Mrs. Robinson

Olive Stone directs Colin Farrell and Elliot Cowan on the set of "Alexander."

By Jeannette Walls

MSNBC

updated 2:43 a.m. ET Nov. 11, 2004

Maybe they should call it “Alexander the Grating.”

The Oliver Stone-directed epic starring Colin Farrell doesn’t open until November 24, but Stone quietly screened it to some audiences this week — and the early reaction seems to be a big thumbs down.

“This movie is a mess,” writes a reviewer on the movie site AintItCoolNews.com. “According to Stone he just finished this film on Friday and, in my opinion, it looks like he rushed it out the door. . . . The story is incohesive, the acting is uninspired, and the whole look is incredibly pieced together.”

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“I was stunned—and I say that without snarky irony — stunned by how bad this movie was,” writes another. “Overacting, bizarro camera work and frame tinting, lackluster battles. . . . God, it was just a mess.”

“The movie starts off being shot very traditionally then 2 hours into the movie Stone decides to start shooting this film like ‘Natural Born Killers’ with infra-red camera shots and scenes washed in red,” groused a reviewer on IMDB.com. “Very strange and out of place.”

A few viewers did find something to like about the film: “The Rosario Dawson nude scene will make you worship her,” writes one.

Stone has a lot riding on the epic pic — which reportedly cost a staggering $150 million to make — and a source says the director seemed uncharacteristically subdued when he was answering questions at a screening.

Hoffman’s own Mrs. Robinson
IMAGE: Hoffman
Louis Lanzano / AP
Mrs. Robinson wasn’t the first older woman to seduce Dustin Hoffman. But at least she knew who he was.

The star of “The Graduate” had his first sexual encounter when he was 15 — with a 20-year-old woman who thought he was his older brother, Ronny.

She wasn’t happy when she discovered the mistake, according to December’s Playboy.

“I jumped off her, stark naked, and left the room,” Hoffman tells the mag. “I wound up in the living room, and guys were sitting around having beer and talking, and I was naked. This may have been the beginning of my acting career without my knowing it, because they stood up and applauded, and I liked the applause.”

Notes from all over
IMAGE: Cruz
Peter Kramer / Getty Images file
Penelope Cruz says she’ll consider adopting as a single mom if she doesn’t marry. “I wouldn’t be afraid of adopting a baby by myself,” she said. . . . What do Paris Hilton and Rudy Giuliani have in common? They’re among the celebs who have donated autographed staples to be auctioned off for charity — by Staples, the office supply store. Other staple-signing stars include Tiger Woods, Bill Gates and Meryl Streep. . . .Lindsay Lohan can’t seem to keep her dad on a leash. The “Mean Girls” star has lashed out at her her headline-making father for suggesting that hard partying led to her recent hospital stint. “I have been informed that he has started false allegations regarding myself and the cause of my illness,” Lohan said, reports World Entertainment News Network. “I feel this is hurtful and it angers me to see that my own father would stoop to such a level.”