THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406230034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRENT A. BOWLES, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: Medium
Nicholson's newest, ``Wolf,'' is the most closely guarded film of the summer. Almost no press material has been released and the insiders won't talk about it. One might think that because no one will discuss it, it must not be that good. One is right.
{REST} Nicholson, is the obvious choice for the role of a book editor who is bitten by a wolf in New England and begins a ghastly transformation that has been chronicled in films since the 1930s. As he evolves closer to his canine counterpart, he starts to kill - first a deer and then he moves on to human prey.
If you like Nicholson, this is your movie. He is wickedly funny and milks this wolf thing for all it's worth. This performance is reminiscent of his work in ``The Witches of Eastwick'' and ``Batman,'' and is a fan's dream. But it's just not enough to make the ordinary extraordinary.
The script is so old that without two big-name stars, it is doubtful that the film would be noticed at all. This is the same story that everyone knows and everyone has seen: the man transformed into a werewolf, the innocent maiden caught up in something sinister, etc. Nicholson's performance alone keeps this story one step ahead of the cliches, and practically saves it.
Not helping much is Michelle Pfeiffer as the woman who falls for Jack but not fully aware his nightly routines. There is absolutely nothing to this performance, and such a fine actress is totally wasted.
James Spader is the bad guy who later becomes a wolf (boring, nonthreatening, funny-looking), and Christopher Plummer drops in occasionally as Pfeiffer's billionaire father. He looks so out of place here, I was hoping he'd suddenly break out in a chorus of ``Edelweiss'' or something.
You can tell that Mike Nichols directed this. It has the same darkly comic style as ``The Graduate'' and ``Postcards From the Edge.'' Nichols was either undecided on whether to make it a comedy or a horror picture, or unaware how funny this movie really is. The audience found parts of this movie a hoot.
The screenplay, by novelist Jim Harrison and screenwriter Wesley Strick, reportedly went through five to seven different drafts, and it shows. The characters change radically and frequently, and plot lines are dropped and picked back up throughout the long 124 minutes. The romance between Nicholson and Pfeiffer is never developed beyond the sheets, and there's no chemistry between the two anyway. There's no tension in the werewolf showdown finale, and Ennio Morricone's music for this scene seems better suited for a cartoon.
Cinematographer Guiseppe Rotundo tries desperately to make the overblown indoor sets look real, and the little bit of location shooting in New York is too dark to see. The whole film is one big shroud.
Unless you're a Nicholson fanatic, you're not going to be missing much by skipping this one. Let's wait a couple of full moons before we contemplate a sequel, OK?
by CNB