Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100231
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Part road movie, part mystery, part twisted romance, it defies any useful classification. The film had a limited theatrical release, but built a reputation at film festivals. It's the kind of movie that benefits enormously from the heady atmosphere of a festival and the weird mood that audiences acheive sometime between the cocktail hour and two in the morning.
"Alligator Eyes" begins with three friends - Lance, Marjorie and Robbie - taking off from someplace in the northeast for a Virginia Beach vacation. On their way, they meet Pauline (Annabelle Larsen), a blind hitchhiker.
Right away, Pauline begins to manipulate the other three, suggesting that they change their plans and join her at a music festival on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. When they don't come around, she uses more unusual and persuasive methods. At the same time, a car seems to be following them, and Pauline's stories about her psychiatrist grow more outlandish. Her talk of alligators becomes obsessive.
For my taste, the film is too talky. The characters have an unpleasant edge and the writing is so strange that it's impossible to judge the acting. Having said that, I have to admit that writer-director John Feldman maintains a quirky originality all the way through. Even if "Alligator Eyes" is exasperating at times, it is never boring.
\ "Tune In Tomorrow . . .," also arriving this week, played in local theaters a few months ago. But this off-beat romantic comedy should find a larger audience on home video. Set in 1950s' New Orleans, it's a free-wheeling adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa's novel, "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter."
Most of the story has to do with young Martin (Keanu Reeves) and his passionate love for his aunt Julia (Barbara Hershey). But the movie belongs to Peter Falk, as Pedro, the Albanian-baiting radio writer. His fiery soap operas generate trouble, attention and ratings wherever he works. And he becomes the fairy godfather for Martin's romance.
Jon Amiel's direction comes straight from the great screwball comedies and Wynton Marsalis' jazz score fits the action perfectly. If you missed this one the first time around, make a point to find it at your local video store.
\ "The Shrimp on the Barbie" takes on similar subject matter with less successful results. This one is a misfired comedy that more or less wastes the considerable talents of Cheech Marin.
He plays his usual underachiever, here called Carlos Munoz, who opens a Mexican restaurant in Australia. Wealthy Alex Hobart (Emma Samms) pretends to be engaged to Carlos to iritate her domineering father. She's spoiled and stuffy; he's crude and zesty.
For a price, he agrees to go along with the joke and to spend a weekend at the family estate. You know exactly how it's going to end.
Some of Marin's raunchy humor is spontaneous and bright. Other bits seem forced. Surprisingly, he's also effective in the quieter, more realistic moments. But, taken as a whole, the movie is never as good as it should be.
Note that the director is listed as Alan Smithee, the pseudonym that members of the Director's Guild are allowed to adopt when they are dissatisfied with the result of their work.
Clarification
On Feb. 13, this column stated that Videolog, the thick loose-leaf notebook available to the public in some video stores, did not list films that are no longer being distributed. Keri Lasley, Publication Coordinator, says that's not so. Videolog does include out-of-print titles, notably Disney releases which may be available for only a few months. She's right, of course.
But some older, obscure titles from small distributors that are no longer in business may fall through the cracks. Videolog is a fine reference source, but, to my knowledge, there's no single work that lists every film that is now or has ever been on home video.
New releases this week
`Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael'
1/2: Starring Winona Ryder, Jeff Daniels. Directed by Jim Abrahams. Paramount. 96 min. Rated PG-13 for strong language, brief nudity and sexual content. This movie is a condescending attempt to satirize smalltown life, but it mocks small towns without understanding. And beneath that contemptuous tone, there's an incongruous sexual undercurrent that rises to the surface in the strangest places. The heroine is Dinky Bossetti (Ryder), a free spirit in Clyde, Ohio, who has decided that she is the daughter of the town's only celebrity, Roxy Carmichael.
The star is about to return for the first time in 15 years, and that has thrown her old beau (Daniels) into a midlife crisis. The generally unfunny comedy attempts to pull those threads together.
THE ESSENTIALS:\ Alligator Eyes 1/2 Academy. 101 minutes. Rated R for strong language, brief nudity, sexual content, violence.
\ Tune In Tomorrow . . . HBO. 90 min. Rated PG-13 for subject matter, some strong language.
\ The Shrimp On the Barbie Media. 87 min. Rated R for raunchy humor.
by CNB