I had just gotten back from a trip to New York City when I saw ‘The Sound of Silence’ and my first thought was, “this film is so New York.”  Where else in the world would something like the plot of this film exist, wherein a man, played by Peter Sarsgaard, would go into people’s apartments and analyze the sounds and become a therapist of sorts wherein he would recommend something and people’s lives would be better (‘buy a new toaster and you will sleep better’)  The concept alone is intriguing, interesting, but you know what? I believe in it, and I probably would take whatever advise he would give.

I wish the film delivered as well as its premise. We get a half-baked story here about Peter’s friendship with Ellen Chasen, played by Rashida Jones, whose apartment he tried to treat, but the situation is a lot more complicated than he initially thought. Skaarsgard and Jones are great, and somehow fill whatever void the script gives them, but their efforts are not enough to deliver the film to the finish line. There is curious greatness here, but maybe it needs some sound adjusting to be fully realized.