On October 26, 2007, a little film called Bella was released. Although showing on a mere 165 screens, the movie eked out an impressive opening weekend gross of over $1 million. At that moment, a thought similar to my own must have crossed the minds of many a cinephile across the country: what in the world is Bella? Sleeper hits coming out of left field are always pleasant surprises, but when they're as monotonous and low-key as Bella, it makes one wonder why any hype existed behind the film in the first place. 

Jose (Eduardo Verastegui), a former soccer phenom who, after going through a tragic incident in his past, now works as a chef at his brother's New York restaurant. One day, Jose's brother the boss chews out and fires waitress Nina (Tammy Blanchard) for being late too many times, but instead of turning the other cheek, Jose abandons his post and sets out to provide Nina with some company. As it turns out, Nina is pregnant and at a crossroads concerning to what to do.

While Nina and Jose venture their way across the city, from job-hunting at other restaurants to making a visit to his parents' home, the pair share their frustrations about not just work but life in general. The two gradually warm up to one another, to the point that they both start emerging from their emotional shells and confronting those moments from the past that wounded them.

Maybe because I saw Once, another sleeper with a similar structure, mere hours before venturing to the theater to catch Bella, I couldn't shake the feeling that this film had no reason to be made. Now I don't mean to slam dialogue-driven stories depending more on conversations between characters to advance the plot over hackneyed plot twists, but when all's said and done with Bella, the moral tagged on the end comes across as more than a little muddled. Unlike Richard Linklater's modern-day classics Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, which truly captured the tragic aura surrounding two individuals falling in love who had no clue if they'd ever meet again, Bella relies heavily on two people just talking, with dramatic situations popping up every once in a while. There's plenty of hugging, weeping, and introspective staring to go around in Bella, but rarely, if ever, does it seem effective or garner any sympathy for the characters.

Still, I do admire what director/co-writer Alejandro Gomez Monteverde was aiming for with Bella, as his material contains the potential for a frank, up-front look at two relative strangers getting to know one another and letting some skeletons out of their respective closets in the process. The problem lies in Monteverde's execution. There are no moments of revelation or dramatic payoffs for Jose and Nina; they spend a day together, talk a little bit, and by the end of the film, all of their problems have apparently been solved, but darned if I know how. Monteverde also does a little messing around (read: cheating) with the timeline of events to increase the drama, only to saddle the storyline with an extra layer of confusion. As for the performances, Blanchard's sassy girl act is a little hard to buy, although Verastegui does solid work as the troubled Jose.

I felt let down by Bella (and that's saying something when I had zero expectations to begin with), but I can see why it's such a crowd-pleaser. The movie has wide appeal: it's not profane or offensive, and certainly means well. However, although Bella has won the hearts of many critics and moviegoers, it remains about as inspirational to me as one of those posters showing a cat hanging off a tree branch.

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by Roadside Attractions and rated "PG-13" for thematic elements and brief disturbing images.)