A rich womanizer falls in love with his best friend's girlfriend. The next day he is in a car with an ex-lover who commits suicide by driving the car into a tree. The bachelor survives the crash, but with his face hideously disfigured. Soon, however, his luck seems to change when his friend's girl declares her love for him and the doctors are able to rebuild his face. But when strange things begin to happen, he starts to realize that his life has taken a turn beyond his control.
The single best scene in Vanilla Sky, and maybe in the entire year of cinema, takes place right at the beginning of this film. On the surface it's not anything that special, just a scene of Tom Cruise, running panicked through Times Square in New York City. Only Times Square is completely devoid of traffic or pedestrians. As is every street we can see down. New York, effectively, is empty. Whether this was done legitimately or with digital effects (or a combination of both), I don't know. And I couldn't tell, either. It's a powerful shot to launch what should have been a powerful movie.