If, with this new collaboration between director Cameron Crowe and star Tom Cruise you were expecting Jerry Maguire 2, you are going to be in for a shock. This film, a remake of a 1997 Spanish film entitled Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), is hypnotic, challenging and nearly impossible to shake off.

David Aames (Cruise) leads what appears to be a charmed life: he's handsome, wealthy and charismatic. He is also a vain womanizer who could care less about anyone but himself. David likes to keep his life and the people in it contained, controlled and at a distance.

The person to challenge David's self-centered, self-contained world is Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz). Sofia comes to David's 33rd birthday party as a date with Brian (Jason Lee), David's best friend. Aames, who figures Sofia to be his next sexual conquest (despite Brian's obvious interest in her), begins to make his move on her only to find out that there is something different about her. He spends the night with her, but not in the way that he is accustomed to (translation: no sex). Sofia has managed to cut through David's rarefied world of sycophants and opportunists to get to his heart. He leaves her apartment with the feeling that he may have found the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately for David, Julianna Gianni (Cameron Diaz), his last conquest who refuses to let things go, is stalking David and has followed him to Sofia's apartment. Despite the events of the night before, David gives into temptation and winds up getting into the car with Julianna to go to her apartment.

Big mistake, Dave.

What goes on from here is best seen with your own eyes and not described in a review (if anyone tries to tell you what happens in the film, punch them). There are a lot of twists and turns in Vanilla Sky and it is very easy to lose your way if you don't pay close attention. Yet, it all makes perfect sense in the end. A dark, intense erotic thriller may be new territory for the man known mostly for smart, sunny comedies like Almost Famous and Say Anything. However Sky writer/director Cameron Crowe shows that he can handle other genres with equal aplomb. His script, an adaptation of the 1997 original (written by Alejandro Amenabar of The Others fame), is filled with dialogue that is fresh, involving and at times very poignant. It also has some very intriguing, if not entirely likeable, characters that make the multiple twists and turns captivating. A lot of times, when a filmmaker attempts to go into a different direction, the results are not pretty. They leave behind all of their strong points and fall on their creative face (The Color Purple, anyone?). Thankfully, Crowe has not.

Tom Cruise's performance is one of his best to date, ranking right up there with his work in Magnolia and Born On The Fourth Of July. David is a complex character whose long, strange journey to discovering his soul and possibly finding true love would not have worked half as well if someone else was in the lead. Cruise perfectly captures not only David's vain arrogance, but also the heartbreak and struggle of a man who has to start anew. This is definitely an award-nomination worthy performance.

For once in her short American film career, Penelope Cruz is given a role that shows off both the acting talent and considerable charm she displayed in such foreign films as All About My Mother. She and Cruise do display a wonderful onscreen chemistry together. Diaz, Lee and Kurt Russell, as a psychiatrist David deals with, all offer solid supporting performances as well.

Crowe's masterful use of music is also proudly on display here. From the dreamy Raidohead tune Everything In Its Right Place to the Paul McCartney title tune, this collection, which also includes U2, Jeff Buckley and Sigur Ros, is a stunner. A hearty round of applause should also go to Joe Hutshing's editing, John Toll's lush cinematography and Digital Domain for their subtle but effective visual effects work.

Vanilla Sky is not your usual erotic thriller nor is it your usual big-budgeted, star-laden Hollywood holiday offering. It takes chances and, in asking its audience to go along for the ride, requires us to do so as well. In a season where a creatively straightjacketed adaptation of Harry Potter is considered the Second Coming of Cinema, it is nice to know that there are some people in Hollywood who are still willing to go out on a limb and try something different, even if it has been filmed previously in another country. Crowe and Cruise could have taken the easy way out for their second collaboration but instead chose to make this. For that, I am very grateful.

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