Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505090063
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Four new video releases - three hits and a miss - have that same alternative sensibility. For the most part, these are shoestring productions that successfully attempt to make virtues of their flaws. They're funny (with exceptionally strong sexual humor), and they're driven by young characters with unusual names and even more unusual attitudes.
In "Floundering," John Boyz (James LeGros) is aimlessly adrift in Los Angeles. Unemployed and lacking in ambition, he's prone to circular philosophical discussions with one friend (John Cusack), while dealing with his brother's (Ethan Hawke) paranoid fantasies and problems in detox, and his girlfriend's (Lisa Zane) casual infidelities.
Anything more in the way of plot synopsis would be pointless because the story is about 50 per cent realistic, 50 per cent metaphorical, and 100 per cent politically naive. Writer-producer-director Peter McCarthy blames all of the problems of southern California on one character: an authoritarian parody of former LA police chief Daryl Gates. It's a curious and unnecessary flaw. The rest of the film, with its shadings of impending apocalypse, is strongly reminiscent of the cult favorite "Repo Man," which McCarthy produced.
Overall, "Floundering" is more successful in creating a dreamlike portrait of today's world than in telling a coherent, compelling story.
"Don't Do It!" is a more realistic and funny look at love in the mid-'90s with an ensemble cast.
Waitress Alicia (Sarah Trigger) is pregnant. Her current live-in beau Robert (James Marshall) might be the father, or it might be former flame Dodger (James LeGros again), but now Dodger is tentatively involved with Suzanna (Heather Graham) who's carrying a torch for Charles (Esai Morales) who, at that very moment, is putting some serious moves on Michelle (Sheryl Lee) but she hasn't gotten over Robert yet. Meanwhile, two guys (Balthazar Getty and Alexis Arquette) cruise around discussing love and life when they're not calling old girlfriends.
Got all that? Actually, writer-director Eugene Hess makes it hold together pretty well. Even though most of the action consists of couples sitting around talking, there's enough two-timing, lies and hanky-panky for six weeks of a soap opera. Hess has a good sense of comic timing and he got the right mix of humor and seriousness. He also winds things up with a clever ending. I look forward to whatever he does next.
"My Life's In Turnaround" is an autobiographical comedy that combines the same freewheeling "Gen-x" sensibility with a New York setting.
Eric Schaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward co-produced, -wrote, -directed and -starred in the story of Splick and Jason, two performance artists who decide to turn their less-than-illustrious careers into a movie. As they see it, to break into the film business you don't need talent or a script or cameras or any of that stuff - you just need meetings. And so they set out to get them. They'd also like girlfriends, being, as they are, two of the Big Apple's more colorful neurotics.
Splick is driven to approach poised and unattainable society women while Jason is usually surrounded by immature models. When he finally screws up his nerve to talk to an intelligent woman (Debra Clein) his own age, he's petrified. And when one of Splick's lines actually works on a lawyer (Dana Wheeler Nicholson), he's stunned.
Still, there's this movie to be made. At various times, Phoebe Cates, Martha Plimpton and Casey Siemaszko become "attached" to the guys' unfunded project, and John Sayles shows up for a sharp cameo as a sleazy producer. But in the business, there's always the danger of "turnaround," where yesterday's absolutely guaranteed sure thing becomes today's abandoned project.
If Schaeffer and Ward had taken any of the material too seriously, it would have fallen flat. But they keep the energy level cranked up and the whole film has a made-on-the-fly quality that serves it well.
In technical terms, there's a lot to be desired. The color is grainy; the sound is rough and every scene appears to have been shot on location. But this is home video, not highly polished big-screen entertainment. Intelligence, quirky humor and good characters make up for a lot. "My Life's In Turnaround" is going to be a real sleeper hit on tape.
"S.F.W." probably will not be a hit - sleeper or otherwise. It's a misfired satire about an underachieving teen, Cliff Spab (Stephen Dorff, looking for all the world like the winner of the Corey Feldman lookalike contest). He's taken hostage by terrorists in a convenience store and becomes a TV hero for his oft-repeated philosophical statement, "So f- what?." Hence the title.
The film's problems are obvious. First, it's almost impossible to parody today's media culture, where nothing exceeds like excess. Second, adolescent nihilism is inherently boring and false. Third, that nihilism turns out to be a smokescreen for your basic dork-loves-cheerleader story, with the innocuous Reese Witherspoon as the object of Spab's affections.
Next week: Crime, suspense and other fun stuff!
New releases this week:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ** 1/2
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Robert DeNiro, Helena Bonham Carter. Directed by Branagh. Columbia TriStar. 128 min. Rated R for graphic violence, sexual content.
This glorious mess of a movie is energetic to a fault, handsomely produced, often astonishing in a visual sense and poorly written. A stilted, creaky script lies at the heart of its problems. Branagh tries to overcome the shortcomings with hyperactive camera work (the lab scenes are real lulus). Co-star De Niro is effective as the Creature, but the rest of the film seems forced and insincere. 128 min.
The War
Starring Kevin Costner. MCA/Universal. Rated PG-13
Set in rural Mississippi, this is a modest and engaging film about a Vietnam War veteran's struggle to become a part of his family, and the parallel struggles of his children to find their place in a very tough, dirt-poor town. Kevin Costner is excellent as the vet, and his scenes with the children - especially Elijah Wood as Stu - are very good. The movie tries to pull together too many elements, but it still packs a surprising punch.
The Essentials:
Floundering 1/2
A-Pix. 97 min. Rated R for strong language, sexual humor and situations, violence.
Don't Do It! ***
Triboro. 90 min. Rated R for strong language, sexual humor and situations.
My Life's In Turnaround ***
Arrow Video. 84 min. Rated R for strong language, sexual humor, fleeting nudity.
S.F.W. *
Polygram. 94 min. Rated R for strong language, sexual humor, situations, brief nudity.
by CNB