The "rich, handsome white guy who mopes because he wishes life were more meaningful" theme irks me a bit when I think about it, but I often seem to fall for it nonetheless. My opinion swung back and forth while watching this movie, and continues to after having finished it, but I gave it a soft yes. The first and last 20 minutes were incredible, but like Amy, I felt that there were chunks missing in the middle. Upon thinking more about what I wanted from it, I realized that I was reacting to the emptiness of Anthony's life in Malibu, and perhaps wanting to see him at least attempting to find happiness and meaning there, or trying to develop a stronger connection with Nora. But, without needing to attribute any attempt at being meta on the part of the film makers, I decided maybe the point was that Arthur had decades to seek meaning in his charmed first life, and then a second chance to do so as Anthony, but he completely squandered both times. At the end of the film he talks about wanting a third chance because he's realized the importance of doing things on his own, and the importance of choice, but he doesn't seem to have learned the lesson that he's been capable of seeking meaning and making his own choices all along. As optimistic as he was about getting a third chance, it's impossible to imagine that things would have gone any differently.
Overall, the camera work was incredible and I enjoyed seeing Hudson in such a different role. A couple of the movie's quieter scenes, like the one where Arthur's wife attempts to initiate sex and the distance and lack of connection between the two characters is apparent, will haunt me for some time. And as a final note, Wikipedia claims that for a DVD release, Frankenheimer wanted to restore a deleted scene in which Hamilton visits his daughter, but the footage couldn't be found.
