I don't envy Sofia Coppola. She was up against the top actors in Ameriacan theater playing mythic roles they themselves created. Few actors could have held their own there, much less an absolute amatuer. Her performance is, in a word, disappointing. I know some of you find it acceptable, but in reality she just couldn't deliver. Her rookie mistake was underplaying so much that she came across as laconic. It didn't help that her dialogue was so poor, but she really seems lost in a Valium haze.

The Corleone family is volatile, emotional, forceful. Throughout the films we see characters who exist in all dimensions and they give fire to our belief like few film characters ever have. Look at the scenes between Kay and Michael in 3. The dialogue is again, not great, but those scenes slam you out of 3 and take you straight back to I and II. We see Kay and Michael, all their history, all their animosity, all their distance, and all their closeness, not two actors going through the motions for some sub-par, grab-the-money, half-hearted add-on. They are two master actors doing their top work. To keep-up with that is next to impossible for someone so untrained as Sofia.

It's hard to soar with the flock when you're still a chick. Thinking back, I don't know there was any known actress at the time who could have measured-up to the role. It's like trying to find actors of the appropriate age to play Hamlet, it's next to impossible to find someone that age who is that wise in their ability.

My greatest complaint is the dreadful dialogue in III and the general lack of majesty I and II had. Talia Shire had it the worst. Her lines ranged from dreadful to absurd, "Would someone please hail Mary? Oh, forgive me your excellency," and, "He did the right thing! He got Joey Zasa's name!" Pacino didn't have it much better, "Now he has to send YOU a message back." WTF? What did Michael think the message was before? A greeting card? Joey Z just tried to have Vincent killed, you don't get more of a message than that. It's the worst exchange in the film save for Sofia's horrible line, "I want this to bring me closer to you," delivered with all the conviction of choosing a pair of socks at Walmart. She was much better in I and II when all she had to do was cry or stare.

Sofia is a great director. Lost In Translation is a beautiful, subtle, layered film all about what is not said in a relationship. Virgin Suicides is an outstanding first effort. She very richly deserved her Best Screenplay Oscar. She pulls off another film like that one and she'll get a Best Director without a hitch. I wish her nothing but success and hope she stays behind the camera.