Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504140022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In fact, this overblown, melodramatic epic about the most celebrated member of the MacGregor clan shares much in common with last year's big hit, ``Legends of the Fall.'' You've got your mysterious, macho central character, your headstrong female partner who just can't get a grip on her hair, and your deadly sibling rivalry thing.
Like ``Legends,'' ``Rob Roy'' makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously, which - because of its subject matter - turns it firmly and fatally toward the Gothic.
And that's just no darn fun at all.
So what happened here? Was Scottish-born director Michael Caton-Jones (``Memphis Belle,'' ``Doc Hollywood'') too much in love with the legend of Rob Roy to allow some swashbuckle into his conception?
That seems to be the case, because from the very start, Robert Roy MacGregor - played with great earnestness by Liam Neeson - is a serious character with a penchant for preaching. You know a movie's got serious things in store for you when the first scene shows someone biting down on a clump of cow manure. (It's one of many scenes in the movie that just cries out for Michael Palin, John Cleese and the rest of Monty Python to come galloping over the hill, pounding coconut shells together.)
The cow manure-taster is Roy's sidekick, McDonald (Eric Stoltz), and he's trying to determine how long it's been since a rival clan passed through the area with some purloined cattle. Roy's a famous cattle retriever, and when you steal from Roy, well, you better watch out.
Eventually, Roy decides to borrow a thousand pounds from the Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) so he can buy his own cattle and improve his station in life. Trouble is, the icky Montrose's charge - the truly E-vil Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) - is in debt to his tailor, his bookie and a bunch of other people back in England. So, with some prodding from the utterly slimy Killearn (Brian Cox), Cunningham decides to steal the money that Roy's going to borrow from Montrose.
Roth as Cunningham is the best thing about this movie. He's a fop ``but a bastard abroad,'' in his own words. His scenes give the movie something like energy, although it is unsustainable in a film so determined to be big and ponderous.
Neeson and Jessica Lange as Roy's all-suffering, hot-blooded wife, Mary, ought to have taken a clue or two from Roth and camped it up a bit. Unfortunately, the script - by Alan Sharp - offered them few opportunities.
As a travelogue for Scotland, however, ``Rob Roy'' can't be beat. In fact, if you could get all those silly actors out of the way and enjoy the numerous shots of the beautiful Scottish countryside, ``Rob Roy'' would be two hours well spent.
Rob Roy: * 1/2
Rated R for explicit violence - especially sexual violence. A United Artists release, 139 minutes, showing at Tanglewood Mall.
by CNB