Character Drives Up An Otherwise Inconsistent Horns!

The Good: Most of the character elements, Decent performances, Moments of concept
The Bad: Erratic development of concept, Themes do not play out as well in the medium
The Basics: What might have been an engaging book, Horns packs in a number of themes that are erratically executed when a young man’s sudden demonic appendages give him the power to investigate his loved-one’s murder.


It usually takes quite a bit for me to subject myself to a horror movie. The truth is, the genre does not have a lot of appeal to me and the bag of tricks used by horror filmmakers is one that has been pretty well emptied over the years. Apparently, though, Daniel Radcliffe is enough to get me to tune in and when I learned of his new film, Horns, the concept was simple and direct enough to get me to invest the two hours.

On its surface, Horns is a pretty transparent reinterpretation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. To be fair to Horns, the film tries to create a character and a backstory, so it was unsurprising to me that the film is actually based upon a novel. It is worth noting that I have not read the novel, so this is a pure review of the film as it stands on its own.

Ig Perrish is an outsider who is pretty much ignored by the people of Seattle. He loves Merrin with a passion that leads him to declare her a fallen angel. Ig’s status as an outsider is compromised when Merrin is killed and the locals blame Ig and are convinced he is a murderer. With Ig turning to his lifelong friend, Lee, for representation and suspended from his job as a d.j., Merrin’s father Dale riles up the locals against Ig. The morning after Merrin’s candlelight vigil, after which Ig destroys a rosary statue and puts out the candles left behind by urinating on them, Ig awakens in bed with Glenna (the local bartender) and he sprouts horns.

The horns on Ig’s head are not the only anomaly in his life: Glenna immediately begins confessing to him her gluttonous desire for doughnuts and when he visits the doctor’s office, a stranger confesses her intimate secrets to him and Ig is able to read her mind (inadvertently). The doctor seems unable to recall that Ig has horns whenever he looks away and when he starts sawing the horns off Ig’s head, Ig recalls his childhood. In the flashback, Ig recalls seeing Merrin the first time, almost drowning as part of a dare, and how the cherry bomb Ig won for executing the dare blew off two of Lee’s fingers. Ig recalls bringing Merrin to their secluded treehouse where they have sex. Ig comes out of the surgery to discover that the doctor was unable to remove the horns – in fact they have grown. As people confess to Ig, he realizes that his newfound power has the potential to exonerate him and he begins the search for the person who killed his love. The search leads Ig to suspect someone very close to him and question the nature of his transformation and his existence.

Horns is not actually a horror movie and that makes it play out much better than it initially seems like it would. The story develops from what appears to be a horror conceit – man gets horns that make people confess their sins to him – into a tale that cleverly utilizes that conceit to try to tell a real-world story. Ironically, the result is that the movie turns into a somewhat mundane investigation story with a very familiar horror concept of an antagonist who is riling up the townsfolk with pitchforks. While Dale Williams does not bring about a Frankenstein-like climax where Ig faces mob justice, his presence serves to keep the story rooted with a very typical “grieving parent” antagonist. Unfortunately, David Morse is unable to bring Dale out of the role of an archetype.

Unlike a horror movie, Ig is not the antagonist in Horns, despite the repeated use of peripheral characters – the priest, the bartender, etc. – who treat Ig as if he must be the murderer. What is not made clear enough in Horns is why so many people turn on Ig so quickly. How could Ig be a successful d.j. and be the town pariah?! If Ig is such an outsider as his opening monologue declares him to be, how do so many people recognize him so easily to turn on him?

Unfortunately, director Alexandre Aja telegraphs too much of Horns. Juno Temple (Merrin) and Daniel Radcliffe (Ig) are embodied on-screen with no real sexual chemistry. Their relationship comes across as cold in some of the initial scenes and that acts to foreshadow later events long before they are made explicit. In a similar fashion, Max Minghella’s Lee plays off Radcliffe without any warmth . . . so it makes it less credible that they have truly been lifelong friends. Lee is presented within the first half-hour of the film as having the best motive to dislike Ig – Lee loses two fingers and a potential relationship with Merrin in the course of the same day! So, when we see Minghella’s Lee moments later introduced as a cold man who has no warmth for the old friend he is defending against the rest of the town, the film plods along in a less surprising way. Unfortunately, Horns does not present a journey that one watches and enjoys the process while Ig eliminates the suspects in his investigation.

As for Daniel Radcliffe, he is good in Horns and Harry Potter fangirls will get enough partial nudity to supply themselves with a few new fantasies. Horns, however, limits him with a character who gets embedded in a plot-centered story that does not evolve as much as his backstory is revealed. Radcliffe delivers well Ig’s lines where the character is frustrated by how people treat his suddenly sprouting horns is normal, but he never seems as shocked by his character’s developing demonic powers.

Ultimately, Horns is much better than I would have suspected going in, but it trades one genre for another and the result is much more typical than it is extraordinary.

For other works with Juno Temple, please check out my reviews of:
Maleficent
Lovelace
The Brass Teapot
The Dark Knight Rises
Year One
Atonement

6/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Am I The Only One In The World Who Did Not Enjoy Anger Management?!

The Good: Moments of humor, Generally good performances
The Bad: Agonizing tone, Predictable plot, Irksome character development
The Basics: When Dave Buznik is sentenced to 20 hours of anger management therapy, he ends up getting more than he bargained for when noted author and expert Dr. Buddy Rydell antagonizes him.


There are a number of movies that came and went in their theatrical run that I had absolutely no interest in watching that I now find myself catching thanks to my wife. Pretty much any film featuring Adam Sandler falls into that category; my wife is a fan and I’m not a huge fan – though there are some that I have enjoyed. Despite the presence of Jack Nicholson in it, I never had the urge to watch the Adam Sandler film Anger Management. That avoidance ended last night when my wife and mother-in-law were in the mood to watch Anger Management and I was in the mood to hang out with them.

Hated it.

The thing is, I don’t recall what I knew about Anger Management going into it, but from the outset the movie set me off because the protagonist seemed woefully misdiagnosed with anger issues. Adam Sandler is possibly the ultimate actor for portraying seething rage beneath a good-guy persona. He did it masterfully in Punch-Drunk Love (reviewed here!), so Sandler has abilities. For sure, there are many different ways people who have anger under the surface might act, but in Anger Management, Sandler’s character of Dave Buznik exhibits no recognizable traits of someone who is truly angry and struggles to deal with that. Instead, in Anger Management, Dave is constantly provoked and he is surrounded by angry people who overact to his calm rejections of their behavior.

Dave Buznik has been dating Linda for years and he remains too timid to commit to her, despite the fact that she pals around with Andrew, an ex who shows no respect for her relationship with Dave. Dave has a great idea that his boss takes credit for. That leads to Dave traveling for his boss and on the plane, he moves seats to sit next to Dr. Buddy Rydell. In asking for headphones, Dave is forced to wait and when he gently puts his hand on the stewardess’s elbow, the plane lands and he is charged with assault. He is sentenced to twenty hours of anger management therapy . . . with Dr. Rydell.

Rydell begins almost immediately making offers to Dave and then betraying him. Dave’s sentence is expanded to forty hours and the group sessions Dave attends include the legitimately violent Chuck, a porn star couple, and a guy who is far long in Rydell’s program, Lou. Traveling together, Dave and Rydell go through a number of exercises, like Rydell having Dave pick up a woman at a bar, then telling Linda about it. Rydell has Dave confront his childhood tormenter and then starts dating Linda himself. In the process of Rydell agitating Dave, Dave comes to stand up for himself and his relationship with Linda.

Anger Management is unpleasant to watch because almost immediately, the viewer has the sense that Dave is being played. Watching a generally nice guy get railroaded by an erratic manipulator is not my idea of entertaining. As a result of the transparent way that Rydell works Dave, the “surprise” twist near the end is more obvious than audacious. Anger Management telegraphs itself and it is frustrating to watch a film where the protagonist is so far behind the curve.

That said, Anger Management has an impressive cast that is utilized remarkably well . . . outside Sandler. Sandler’s Dave is not written to be particularly angry, clever or distinct and that leaves Sandler with remarkably little to play. Anger Management does not give Adam Sandler one of his interesting or quirky characters to play and the result is that much of the movie has the viewer watching an indistinct tool.

The rest of the cast of Anger Management is impressively utilized. Jack Nicholson plays Dr. Rydell with an energetic quality that borders on the sadistic and makes the role instantly credible. Nicholson gets through the psychobabble with a brilliant straight face and when his character turns toward the charming and erratic, he lends some continuity to the performance that makes it seem like it is the same character going through everything. Nicholson has amazing facial acting and director Peter Segal captures that wonderfully. The supplemental cast of Marisa Tomei, Luiz Guzman, Kurt Fuller, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, Heather Graham and John C. Riley flesh out the world around Dave and Rydell to keep Sandler playing off an intriguing number of other talents.

Unfortunately, the humor in Anger Management is slapstick and not at all shocking. Telegraphed well in advance, much of the film has mediocre jokes broke up by long stretches of Rydell antagonizing Dave. Anger Management is like watching torment on film and for as much as Dave is tormented, so is the viewer.

For other works with January Jones, please visit my reviews of:
X-Men: First Class
Unknown
Love Actually
Bandits

4/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Masturbating Teenagers, Unsweet Statutory, And The Continued Seduction Of Selena Gomez Make Behaving Badly Creepier Than It Is Funny.

The Good: Fun, fast-paced dialogue, Good cast
The Bad: Third wall breaks, Creepy direction, Uses all of the conceits of the genre
The Basics: Behaving Badly is an unsettling sex comedy that has an impressive cast doing terrible things.


After pretty much every major studio release I watch, I try to catch an independent film. I like supporting indie films and trying to find a balance between the popular films and the art films in my reviews helps keep me a well-rounded reviewer. Sadly, not all independent or artsy films are actually worth it. Behaving Badly is one such “indie” film. While the movie has a surprisingly good cast for a movie unlikely to blow up at the box office, even with its August release, it fails to rise above a schmaltzy sex comedy. While there are sex-focused comedies (as opposed to romantic comedies that are focused on relationships, sex comedies are fundamentally just about a protagonist getting laid) that are actually worthwhile, Behaving Badly is not one. Behaving Badly is not this year’s Sex Drive (reviewed here!).

Behaving Badly is a lackluster comedy that seems like it is trading on Selena Gomez’s star power and the popularity of sex comedies as forged by prior works like American Pie and, to a much lesser extent, movies like Miss March (reviewed here!). In other words, the film trades much more on cheap background nudity, softcore seduction dialogue, and frequent references to teenage masturbation than anything genuinely clever. As is typical of these films, the teenage protagonists are unrealistically smart, beautiful and charmed by everything that is outside their initial characterization (in this case, Selena Gomez’s Nina Pennington is uber-religious – in a fundamentalist Christian way- yet finds it enchanting when Rick extorts his pedophilic adulterous father when they catch him with an underage hooker and the father of his best friend).

Rick Stevens is a fairly normal teenager who finds himself in a world of trouble with a dead body in his car trunk and a case of crabs when he finds his mother on the couch, near death, as part of her latest melodramatic suicide attempt. In the suicide note addressed to him, Rick learns that his mother found out that he had a fling with is best friend’s mother. The story flashes back to how Rick found himself in the predicament by going back two weeks prior to an average day. On that day, he more or less gets a blowjob from a stripper before his best friend’s mother, Pamela, seduces him. Rick worries about what this means for his chances with Nina Pennington, the girl he has lusted over for years. After Rick lies to Nina about knowing Josh Groban, who is in town for a concert the next night, Rick becomes determined to get backstage passes. To that end, Rick asks the local strip club owner for a favor and in exchange for tickets, he has to go buy ecstasy for the perverted scumbag. Screwed on that deal, Rick and his best friend Billy Bender witness their fathers at a nearby hotel having sex with an underage hooker, which helps them get out of a dent Rick put in the car.

Continuing to lust after the idealistic Nina, Rick tries to resist his hot lawyer (when the Aston Martin the Lithuanian mobsters who are fixing the car give him as a loaner gets him in trouble with the police) and Pamela. To raise money, Rick throws a party with his sister and her stripper friends. That leads to a number of arrests that force Rick to try to save all of the people in his life as well as rise to the occasion of being the boy that Nina wants him to be.

Behaving Badly has virtually all of the conceits of the genre, including the meathead ex-boyfriend of the chaste girl the protagonist lusts after who brings violence into mix and pointless drug references. The result is a movie that feels stale, despite the fast-pace of the dialogue and a few initially snappy jokes. The humor is split between quick, witty remarks and awkward attempts to sexualize a number of young actors and actresses who are playing characters much younger than they are. The visual gags are relegated to frequent shots of Billy nervously vomiting and things like sex toys being washed alongside dishes.

Instead of being funny or even titillating, Behaving Badly has a pretty high creep-out factor. Rick Stevens tells his lawyer he is seventeen when she offers him a cigarette, so most of the film is preoccupied with an underage boy getting statutory raped by his best friend’s mother and masturbating frequently. Actors Nat Wolff (Rick) and Lachlan Buchanan (Billy) might be of legal age, but the characters they play are not, so director Tim Garrick’s obsession with crotch shots of the two in their underwear is just creepy.

Behaving Badly is not even overly original. Rick gets into a bet with a psychopath that he can bed Nina and that’s the basic plot of at least one other popular sex comedy. So, fans of nudity and Selena Gomez blowing kisses and flirting to the camera are likely to feel that they have seen everything in Behaving Badly before. There is nothing exceptional or original about Behaving Badly.

That leads to the big mystery of Behaving Badly. How did Tim Garrick assemble such an impressive cast for such a piece of crap film?! Actors who participate in Behaving Badly include the hilarious Cary Elwes, Jason Lee and Patrick Warburton, along with a well-used Heather Graham, Elisabeth Shue, and Mary-Louise Parker. Dylan McDermott might well be playing his funniest character in his repertoire as strip club owner Jimmy Leach. The usually dramatic McDermott is slick, creepy, and does some hilarious physical comedy in Behaving Badly.

Nat Wolff plays the archetypal “I can’t get laid, but I seem to have sex all over the place” plain high school student Rick Stevens in Behaving Badly. Wolff is bland, but plays the straight-laced bland kid well.

Selena Gomez plays Nina Pennington and her role infuses something smart and satirical into the otherwise vacuous and dull Behaving Badly. Writers Tim Garrick and Scott Russell use Gomez to sneak in a number of lines about church hypocrisy and naïve overachievers that Gomez plays with a straight face well. Still, Gomez seems to be around mostly for the cute factor and the shock of the well-established good girl being around strippers, adulterers, and masturbating teenagers.

Even to see that, Behaving Badly is not worth it. The moments of cleverness and the moments the impressive cast is used in ways unconventional for the performers do not justify the rest of the film’s content. The jokes are more misses than hits and the only surprise in Behaving Badly was that the oft-referenced Josh Groban does not make a cameo appearance.

For other sex-driven films, please check out my reviews of:
Bound
Walk Of Shame
Making The Rules

2.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Eroticism, Illness, And Cooking Make For An Erratic Compulsion

The Good: Beautiful direction, Moments of character
The Bad: Inconsistent characterization of Amy, Pacing, Meandering plot
The Basics: An independent film with great (cinematic) direction and poor storytelling direction, Compulsion fails to land.


As Summer Blockbuster Season 2013 roars into its second month, this weekend marks the return of some in-the-bank blockbuster fodder (Brad Pitt and Disney are taking on Man Of Steel). Before going to those movies, I’m opting to take in another independent film and today it is Compulsion. Compulsion is an independent film that is likely not to gain much traction – even for fans of indie films – largely because it lacks focus. Based upon another film (301, 302), which I have not seen, Compulsion meanders through cooking and creepiness for far too long before it actually gets to a point.

That said, Compulsion is one of this summer’s most professionally created indie films. Built on the celebrity of Heather Graham and Carrie-Anne Moss (and to a lesser extent Kevin Dillon), Compulsion is a little film that feels little, though it looks gorgeous.

Amy is pretending to have a cooking show in her home kitchen when Detective Reynolds arrives. He asks her about her neighbor across the hall, Saffron. Amy seems shocked that Saffron has gone missing, but is able to provide Detective Reynolds with little information. Reynolds breaks into Apartment 302, Saffron’s, apartment, where he begins snooping through her effects. Amy flashes back to preparing her home studio with the help of her boyfriend, Fred, who is financing the massive renovations. Saffron, at the time, is a struggling actress looking for a comeback and supplements her income writing a column in a glamour magazine. Amy feels unfulfilled by Fred (he seems to appreciate his bird more than he does her) and she realizes who Saffron is immediately as she is a fan.

What follows their meeting (to conceit is Amy returning Saffron’s mail to her) is Amy seeing her neighbor out in the real world following one of her shopping trips for ingredients. Saffron, struggling with being an aging actress, contrasts Amy, who is aching to get her chance in the spotlight. Amy seems more upset by the fact that Fred is eating crappy food with a co-worker than the fact that she catches him feeding her. Amy’s obsession with quality food annoys Fred and her jealousy leads her to cook Fred’s bird, Sebastian. With Fred kicked to the curb, Amy turns her attention to Saffron, who tries to reject Amy’s pushing into her apartment (physically and with food). When Amy attacks Saffron for trying to dispose of the food she has brought over, Saffron reveals her tumultuous relationship with food and body image and opens the door to a substantive friendship with her neighbor.

Director Egidio Coccimiglio deserves a lot of credit for making Compulsion look as good as it does. While it is easy to make Heather Graham (Amy), Kevin Dillon (Fred) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Saffron)look good, Coccimiglio has a beautiful eye for sets, lighting and the opening sequence makes the cooking process feel like a porno. Compulsion is a color-rich, beautifully shot film, despite the very small scope of the movie. In fact, it reminded me of Bound (reviewed here!) in terms of scale and the artistry of the filmmaking.

Almost immediately, Amy is presented as an inconsistent character. While her character is supposed to be obsessed with cooking, there is a lack of realistic character definition for Amy. Amy is building an exceptionally classy-looking set and cooks gourmet food that costs a bundle to make. But, at the same time, she talks like a simpleton and she is emotionally a child. Her obsession with food is exceptionally well-created defined in Compulsion, but her stage persona is inconsistent. She talks like a high school girl about sex and sexuality and, in combination with the meals she prepared and the apartment she has, she comes across as cheap as opposed to cleverly performing.

Saffron, while only a supporting character for the first hour (the object of Amy’s attention), is far better defined. She instantly is characterized as a woman with a complex relationship with food. When the flashbacks to young Saffron reveal how her mother pressured the young actress to keep her weight down, the scene seems more inevitable than shocking. When Saffron reveals the extent of her issue – she is a long-term bulimic – the movie takes a turn that more clearly defines why Saffron is such a recluse. What is not explained adequately is why Saffron ever lets Amy into her apartment. Amy pushes her way into Saffron’s apartment, but Saffron keeps leaving the door unlocked and – while she rejects Amy’s food – she does not strongly reject Amy at any point.

The movie actually falls apart completely for the character of Saffron when the root cause of her bulimia is revealed. It makes no sense that her character, even years later, would leave her doors unlocked and why she would let Amy push her around makes less sense (i.e. she is coping with her early trauma through her bulimia, it seems like she would not accept the way Amy bullies her (especially given that she has a lock on her door and could use it). For the last fifteen minutes, the film falls apart into a downward spiral/pointless sex scene that seems much more desperate (in context and in terms of making the movie) than it “reads” as an organic plot/character development. The inevitable sex scene feels less passionate or compelling and more like an obvious conceit.

While the story meanders and develops in a predictable way (the moment Saffron’s refrigerator is revealed to be filled with dishes Amy cooked, it seemed strangely obvious that Amy would react violently when she discovered it), the acting is not at fault. Heather Graham delivers a creepy, unsettling performance by bugging out her eyes and speaking in sweet, but authoritative, tones. Carrie-Anne Moss is, as usual, a fine actress who does well with what she is given, but the role of Saffron takes so long to become interesting, that she seems to have very little to do for the bulk of the movie.

Ultimately, Compulsion is teased with a premise that seems titillating, but is executed in a way that fails to engage. Not clever or erotic, Compulsion takes forever to even reveal itself as compelling for the themes of mental illness that it barely scratches the surface of, as opposed to truly committing to. That makes Compulsion not worth the time.

For other films featuring mental illness and reality-bending, please check out my reviews of:
Concussion
Memento
Sucker Punch

3.5/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Ending Charmless, The Hangover Part III Resolves The Franchise On A Downbeat.

The Good: The acting is fine, The action elements work.
The Bad: Not at all funny, Characters get substantially dumber than in previous versions, Does not feel fresh or original in any way.
The Basics: With The Hangover Part III, the franchise comes to an unremarkable, unfunny, action-adventure end.


My instinct when The Hangover Part III was released was to suggest that Jeffrey Tambor was having a very good month. After all, with Netflix releasing the long-awaited fourth season of Arrested Development (reviewed here!) and the cinematic release of The Hangover Part III, Jeffrey Tambor’s star is once more in a prominent position. But, fans burned through the new Arrested Development in hours and Tambor is in, at best, two minutes of The Hangover Part III. In fact, it is the abrupt death of his character, Alan’s father, that sets off the road trip that is the centerpiece of the Hangover franchise adventures.

The Hangover Part III promises viewers it is the end to the story of Phil, Stu, Alan, and (to a much lesser extent) Doug (and a much more significant extent Mr. Chow) that was begun in The Hangover (reviewed here!) and continued in a clunky way with The Hangover Part 2 (reviewed here!). While The Hangover Part III goes to great lengths to try to convince the viewer that The Hangover was the first part in an intended trilogy instead of a runaway summer comedy hit that was then exploited for two mediocre sequels, the relationship between the third film and its predecessors is much more flimsy than fans might want to admit.

First and foremost, in order to make the various conceits of The Hangover Part III work, much of the characterization established in The Hangover had to be thrown out. That is to say that The Hangover was essentially the story of three guys who are roofied, lose a night of their life and spend the subsequent day(s) desperately trying to assemble the clues to piece together what the hell happened to them so they can take responsibility for their actions and recover their lost friend. It’s basically two smart guys and an idiot thrown into a bad situation and acting as detectives in order to find a missing friend . . . with hilarious results. In The Hangover Part III, Phil (especially) and Stu lose most of their innate intelligence in order for their characters to abide by the conceits which allow them to be exploited by the villainous Mr. Chow. In fact, the moment Marshall, who was alluded to in a throwaway line in The Hangover presents the story of gold that was split up and stolen from him, the film heads in painfully obvious directions. If your audience is smarter than the characters and sees the villain’s plan immediately, it undermines the interest one is able to keep in the movie. Sadly, that is exactly what happens with The Hangover Part III.

Opening in Thailand, Mr. Chow makes a daring escape from prison. After killing a giraffe he just bought and causing a nightmare for his father, Alan is reunited with his “wolfpack” for his father’s funeral. Following the funeral, Doug convinces Stu and Phil to help him get Alan to a mental health facility in Arizona. Unfortunately, en route, they are hijacked by Black Doug’s employer, Marshall. Marshall is hunting for Chow, who stole some $21million dollars in gold from him years prior. Marshall keeps Doug as collateral and he tasks Stu, Phil and Alan with finding Mr. Chow. As it happens, Chow recently texted Alan and the trio finds him easily enough.

With Doug’s life in the balance, Chow tells the trio that he needs them to break into his old house to get the gold he stole from Marshall and the three do so . . . until the most obvious double-cross in the world. Set up by Chow, Phil, Alan, and Stu witness Marshall’s brutality and know that he is serious about killing their friend Doug. Tracking Phil’s phone back to Las Vegas, Alan hits on a pawn shop owner and Stu calls in a favor from Jade to track Chow to Caesars. There, the men confront Chow and chase him around Las Vegas with the goal of capturing him and delivering him to Marshall.

There is a noticeable change of tone in The Hangover Part III, certainly as it relates to The Hangover (the truth is The Hangover Part 2 was so forgettable that I cannot make comparisons now, years after its initial release); The Hangover Part III is largely not funny and for most of the film, it does not even try. Instead, this is a remarkably straightforward action movie with the occasional flat-falling joke thrown in. Given how the movie meanders back to Las Vegas and devotes time and attention to the characters getting excited about “Black Doug,” Jade, and the now not-baby “Carlos,” The Hangover Part III stands poorly on its own and instead strives to remind the viewer of the superior film they enjoyed years before. At its best, The Hangover Part III is a series of loosely held together allusions to The Hangover without (until the mid-credits scene) the usual everybody is drugged and wakes up to discover horrible things have happened conceit. Instead, The Hangover Part III is a remarkably straightforward hostage negotiation action adventure movie in many ways. It just happens that the main antagonist is a bit ridiculous.

What is not ridiculous is Marshall, played with usual greatness by John Goodman. Goodman manages to steal the few scenes he is in and add a real sense of menace (albeit somewhat predictable in the reversals he both initiates and is subject to) to The Hangover Part III. Goodman’s Marshall provides the film’s ticking clock and it is far more compelling than simply “man might be late for his own wedding.”

The rest of the acting is fine. Melissa McCarthy’s somewhat understated role as Cassie plays off the more familiar role of Alan well. McCarthy and Zach Galifianakis have decent on-screen chemistry. The others – Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Ken Jeong – reprise their roles well, but give the viewer nothing we have not already seen before. And given that The Hangover Part III is supposed to be Alan’s big emotional journey, Galifianakis is a bit underwhelming, but it is hard to blame him for it. After all, it is not Galifianakis’s fault that he does not repeatedly deliver lines about Alan being in mourning for his father. Instead, after the set-up and a casual reference to it in two subsequent scenes, the death of the most important person in Alan’s life has no resonating effect on the character. So, Galifianakis plays the role of Alan as he always has and he manages not to infuse the character with so much growth that we feel like we are watching It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (reviewed here!) again.

Ultimately, The Hangover Part III is an homage to itself and it succeeds in concluding the franchise in a very different, if humorless, way: may it rest in peace.

For other works featuring Melissa McCarthy, please check out my reviews of:
The Heat
Identity Thief
This Is 40
Bridesmaids
Gilmore Girls
White Oleander
Charlie's Angels
Go

4/10

Check out how this movie stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Bobby: Another Big Cast Movie I Wanted To Like More

The Good: Awesome cast, Some decent acting, Some interesting characters, DVD extras
The Bad: Most of the characters are not developed enough, Use of archival footage/direction
The Basics: Awkwardly combining archived footage and newly directed material, the fateful day of RFK's primary victory in California is recreated in a painstaking and painful way.


Sometimes movies that have huge casts know how to use those big casts. They wow the audience with their performances with sheer force of numbers. So, for example, critics often overlook the magnificent Cradle Will Rock (reviewed here!) because the caliber of the actors in it is so high as to overwhelm the audience and for as hard as I was on Mystic River (reviewed here!), the main reason was because all of the actors were so extraordinary that their performances only lived up to the high expectations of greatness from such a group. In fact, the last movie I saw with a massive, well-known cast that truly disappointed me was A Prairie Home Companion (reviewed here!). And then there was Bobby, a film I was excited about and just caught on DVD.

On June 6th, 1968 in Los Angeles California, the California primary is heating up as a contest between Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator McCarthy and the victory speech for RFK is set for that night at the Ambassador Hotel. As the day progresses, workers, performers and patrons of the Ambassador Hotel prepare for the arrival of Kennedy and there are numerous conflicts and collisions that occur, prompting actions and reactions. The people spending the day going about their lives include kitchen help, notably Jose and Miguel - Latino workers compelled to work a double shift - and black chef Edward Robinson. When Timmons fails to allow the workers to go vote, his boss Paul fires him. Paul is not having the best day as this is the day he and his mistress, Angela, part ways and his wife Miriam finds out about his indiscretion. Retired doorman John Casey sits in the lounge playing chess with those who will play with him, like Nelson. In the hotel's lounge, Virginia Fallon is set to give her final performance and leave town after introducing RFK.

Outside the immediate politics of the hotel, though still encompassed within the walls of the structure, there are a number of personal and political machinations at work. Fallon's husband Tim has chosen this day to leave Virginia. The establishment is overrun with campaign workers for Robert F. Kennedy, like Jimmy and Cooper who spend the day getting high instead of working. They get LSD from Fisher and spend the day tripping. This is unlike Wade and Dwayne, who have spent the day working to create a victory for RFK in the primary. This is the day that Diane is marrying William so he will be sent to Germany instead of Vietnam. It is also the day RFK supporters Jack and Samantha arrive to see the future president.

The recent success of such movies as Crash (reviewed here!) that employ large casts with characters involved in intertwining storylines have encouraged other writers and directors to explore the same with their own ideas. Bobby is written and directed by Emilio Estevez, who also appears in the movie as Tim Fallon. The problem here is that while Estevez certainly captures the chaos and scope of the Ambassador Hotel on that June day, the character elements are sacrificed to fit all of the stories in.

In short, because there are essentially twenty one integral characters (none of whom are Bobby Kennedy) with at least three other recurring characters that try to squeeze in for time, none of them have the chance to fully develop and be explored. Instead, they are almost all given the short run of screentime.

Which leads me to one of the biggest criticisms of Bobby; the title. Titles, any writer will tell you, are incredibly important and Bobby is a misnomer. This is not a film about Robert F. Kennedy. While it certainly does tell the story of one of the most fateful days in American history, it almost completely neglects the real stories of Robert F. Kennedy's day. This is a story about the Ambassador Hotel, building up to RFK's arrival, it's not about Bobby Kennedy. Certainly everyone in the hotel is there directly or indirectly because of Kennedy, but he is an ancillary character in the story.

Moreover, Kennedy appears in the film through use of historical clips, many from news reports using archive footage. Kennedy, Mike Wallace and another news anchor appear in grainy clips that illustrate the reality of the day. Unfortunately, Estevez combines these clips with the main footage of the movie, pulling the viewer out of narrative as he tells it. Instead of relegating the quotes and clips with RFK to a prologue and epilogue, Bobby uses footage throughout that integrates poorly with the actual movie.

Nowhere is this more problematic than near the climax of the film. While Kennedy is on stage in clips that are wonderfully restored for the film, he is flanked by historical figures who the viewer have been watching for the past hour and a half. Yes, Estevez clumsily integrates footage that includes the real Wade - for example - and for those looking at the continuity, this is a terrible attempt to reconcile the movie with itself. To make clear, Estevez uses footage from reality and tries to put it into the movie, usually when RFK is involved and the footage does not match in terms of quality nor composition, making the movie very poorly assembled in the end.

Estevez should have used his RFK stand in Dave Fraunces - or found another actor - to recreate RFK footage for the movie as opposed to sloppily sticking in old clips.

That said, what we do see about the various characters is enough to make this film work at least one viewing. The dialogue between Jose, Miguel and Edward is phenomenal. Rarely in American cinema is there discussion of interethnic dynamics that calls it as it sees it, documenting the tensions between blacks and latinos. Edward's conversation about how he lost his anger is amazing and very compelling. Despite how little screentime he has, he resonates as a worthwhile and intriguing character.

Similarly, the weird relationship between soon-to-be-spouses Diane and William is awkward, stilted and in every way wonderful. When Diane quietly declares that she would have married the two people from her high school that recently were killed in Vietnam if it would have saved their lives is telling and sad. William's understanding that Diane's willingness to marry him is not necessarily based on love is sad and touching.

The character that is most developed and least overstated is John Casey, the former doorman. He is quite simply lonely and retired, occupying a couch in the lobby playing chess in order to stave off utter loneliness and lethargy. His mind is sharp and he has wonderful memories of the Ambassador Hotel, but he is a man who had nowhere to go in retirement and ends up desperate for any interaction with people.

Casey is played with wonderful simplicity by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins has one of his most understated roles here and he creates a character with both quiet dignity and desperation as he waits for the day to end. I've never seen Hopkins played bewildered as well as he does in the climax of this film.

Sadly, most of the other actors do not have the chance to shine as much as they deserve. Almost completely neglected is Martin Sheen whose bit part in Bobby makes the viewer wonder why he took it (though supporting his son is a good enough reason for me!). And while Laurence Fishburne is wonderfully cast as Edward Robinson, his performance is nothing we have not seen from him in, say, The Matrix. He plays the sage quite well, but here he does nothing to impress the viewer with his range.

Neglected even more is one of my favorites, William H. Macy, who wowed me in Magnolia (reviewed here!). Macy plays the hotel's manager, Paul and his role is little more than a cameo at key moments, a clear underuse of his talents. Also appearing with minimal screentime are Elijah Wood, Lindsay Lohan, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez. And while it's wonderful to see Freddy Rodriguez in a film, his part is nothing terribly challenging or different from his signature role in Six Feet Under.

I will note that Joshua Jackson stood out as Wade. Jackson has a seriousness to him that allows him to perfectly embody a young aide to a politician. He seems like a manager and he has a dignity that I would not have anticipated from him.

On the DVD presentation, one of the coolest features is a panel discussion with people who were actually at the Ambassador Hotel the night in question. Their conversation is insightful and it has a strength to it that wonderfully tells the story of reality from a different perspective after Estevez's production is over.

It is only the strength of what is revealed by characters in what little time they are given, combined with the strength of the acting when the actors are permitted to present their talents and the decent DVD bonuses that save this otherwise mediocre film. Sadly, while I watched, I continued to wait for it to become extraordinary and was a little let down when the best it achieved was adequate. Recommended for a viewing, as opposed to purchasing for a permanent collection.

For other works with Freddy Rodriguez, check out my takes on:
Six Feet Under
Havoc
Payback

6/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Boogie Nights: The Weirdest Family Story From One Of America's Greatest Writer-Directors!

The Good: Characters, Story, DVD bonuses, Acting
The Bad: It feels long at times
The Basics: When Eddie Adams runs away to join the porn industry, he finds family with Jack Horner and his crew in an excellent DVD set!


There are very few artists whose works I will go to see without reading reviews and carefully deciding about the current project. Indeed, there are only three writer-directors whose films would instantly get me into the theaters: Terry Gilliam, Kevin Smith, and P.T. Anderson. Anderson won my heart and attentions with Magnolia (reviewed here!), which made my list of Top Ten Movies of all Time. Following that, I checked out his debut, Hard Eight (reviewed here!) or "Sydney" as he prefers it to be called. Ironically, his breakout film, Boogie Nights, was the last film by him that I watched.

Set in the late 1970's in California, young Eddie Adams is working a menial job at a nightclub when porn director Jack Horner walks in and takes notice of him. Horner is convinced that Eddie is physiologically gifted and made for doing porn. Following a fight with his mother, Eddie runs away to Jack's mansion where he finds himself in the company of the illustrious porn stars Amber Waves and the equally young Rollergirl. Eddie changes his name to Dirk Diggler and becomes the porn star Jack is convinced he could be.

But with the advent of the '80's and the rise of video tape, Horner's porn empire and Diggler's career head into a nose-dive. Diggler becomes pathetically hooked on cocaine such that he cannot sustain his erections, Amber becomes lost in an obsessive quest to see her child and Jack finds himself churning out crap on video that makes him ashamed of what he does and who he is. As things tumble out of control for the principles, Diggler and Horner slowly realize how important they were to one another's lives.

Boogie Nights, despite being a film about the porn industry and the performers and denizens of it, is essentially the story of a family. Jack Horner and Amber Waves have an untraditional family that takes in the various elements of their work, most notably Rollergirl and Diggler. But they have an extended family that includes Diggler's costar Reed Rothchild, black porn star Buck Swope, the gay sound tech Scotty J., and Little Bill, the producer whose wife is constantly cheating on him. Indeed, it is Little Bill who marks the change of the decade when he deals with the infidelity of his wife and starts the '80's off with a serious change.

But weird as the family may be, this is essentially a piece that looks at the family; what creates one, what binds one, how they fall apart and what strengths exist within the family to bring the members back again. It's an adult film that explores poor decisions, living with consequences and the resiliency that comes with . . . well, love. Yes, indeed, if there is any common element in the works of P.T. Anderson, it is the strength of love and its weird resiliency. His film Punch-Drunk Love (reviewed here!) was possibly the most explicit with that, but Boogie Nights gets there, too.

The thing about Boogie Nights that might throw a lot of more moderate moviegoers is that it uses the porn industry as a setting and it fearlessly explores that setting. This means the film has a bit of nudity and as the '80's progress, there's some pretty extreme amounts of drug use and violence as well. But where the setting works most effectively is in the peripheral areas; the borders between the porn world and the real world. The '70's insulate Horner and his weird family and they thrive as a continual party. As the '80's begin and the family falls apart, much of what collapses is the isolation Horner and his band of merry actors have. And therein, the film takes its toughest look at the world.

For example, Buck Swope has a lifelong dream of owning an electronics store, specifically a stereo shop. He starts a family and makes a stab at respectability but in leaving the Industry, he finds no welcome in the real world. Prejudiced against him for the jobs he had as an actor, Swope's dreams are almost all systematically crushed by those existing in the "real world." (The resolution to Buck's character is discussed hilariously by Don Cheadle, who played Buck, on one of the two commentary tracks. Seriously, it's one of the funniest bits on any commentary track ever!) In a similar fashion, Amber's desire to be around her child is thwarted and Rollergirl discovers there's no escape for one as young as her from all she has done.

Boogie Nights has a pretty massive cast, so on its lush two-disc DVD set, bonus features extensively explore all that was cut in order to make the movie what it is. The frightening aspect of the film is how much more ambitious P.T. Anderson was prepared to make it, versus how it ended up. That is not to say that it is not ambitious, because it is, but Anderson describes - and illustrates through many deleted scenes - just how much more there could have been. Anderson has a commentary track by himself as well as a second commentary track featuring various cast members. Both commentary tracks are informative and entertaining.

Other bonus features include outtakes, full improv sessions where actors Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly simply play off one another and warm up to one another, and extensive cast and crew biographies as well as character biographies for the principle characters.

The reason moderate - adult - filmgoers ought not to be intimidated by the two and a half hour epic about a porn film family is that the movie is well-written, well-directed, and possesses a cast that is excellent working at the top of their game. Indeed, it's difficult in some ways to get into Boogie Nights at first because of Mark Wahlberg's acting. Wahlberg as Eddie Adams is playing a young man, barely legal as it were. Wahlberg's genius in his performance is he plays Adams as a kid; he's immature, awkward and he gets into fights with his mother and runs away from home. Wahlberg's performance is wonderfully childlike and it informs the viewer to the spoiled diva Diggler will become. It's unlike anything else Wahlberg has performed in and he does a masterful job of it.

Some of my favorite actors in the film - William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, and Melora Walters - get the short end of the stick as it were as they play supporting cast members. Even Don Cheadle is relegated to a support role that gives him almost no scenes to dominate as his own. Heather Graham is good as Rollergirl and part of her strength, like that of Wahlberg, comes from being able to portray young with a certain level of naivete.

Julianne Moore, who plays Amber Waves, reaffirms her true greatness as an actress, though I'm not sure she does anything new in her role other than appear naked. What I mean by that is simple; Moore is a truly great and versatile actress and she instantly brings a caliber and credibility to the production that some of the other actors - like Wahlberg at the time and Graham - cannot. She lives up to all of the expectations placed upon her as a great actress, wonderfully conveying emotions using her eyes and body language. Indeed, one of her most expressive moments is during her sex scene with Mark Wahlberg when the camera focuses on her eyes and they tell the viewer exactly what her character is thinking and feeling.

The cast is rounded out by Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner. Reynolds's new look as debonair middle aged gentleman was pretty much developed by his appearance in Boogie Nights. The immaculately trimmed beard, the use of the laugh lines and piercing eyes as opposed to attempting to make him look younger seem to stem from his portrayal of Horner and it's a great look for the mature actor. Reynolds brings a confidence to the screen that makes almost all of his scenes have a strange dignity to them. Reynolds plays Horner as a professional and a father-figure to the assembly and he has a leadership quality to him that works to make the piece seem bigger than life.

And Boogie Nights is a big film. It is ambitious and surprisingly smart and its only real flaw is that it feels long in a number of places. This is ironic considering Magnolia was longer, but does not feel it. This is not a film for the feint of heart; it is long, gruesome and watching the characters plunge from the top of the world to hitting their rock bottoms is depressing and difficult.

It takes a writer-director like P.T. Anderson to make the viewer care that much and execute it with that much panache!

For other films featuring Mark Wahlberg, please check out my reviews of:
The Other Guys
Date Night
Max Payne
The Departed
Four Brothers
Three Kings

7.5/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Pulling Up Toward A Fantastic Ending, Twin Peaks Episodes 25 - 29 Undoes Much Damage To The Series!

The Good: Return of genuine surrealism, Tight Windom Earle plot, Great acting, Intriguing character development
The Bad: Still needs to tie up lame plotlines/character twists, Moments of still-terrible soap operatic quality.
The Basics: When Twin Peaks sprints to its end, the series leaps into the truly weird and disturbing after finally sealing off some of the lame bits.


[IMPORTANT NOTE: As I proceed through the episodes of Twin Peaks with reviews, it is absolutely impossible to discuss some of the episodes without revealing some of the surprises I will work hard to keep while reviewing earlier episodes, especially when discussing second season episodes. No matter how careful I am, it is impossible to write about some of the later episodes without letting slip that some of the characters were (ultimately) not the killer of Laura Palmer or killed, etc. I shall do my best to minimize that, but given how serialized Twin Peaks is, it is almost impossible to do even a minimal plot summary without some nuggets slipping out. These reviews may be ideal for fans of the series who are sitting down to watch individual episodes and want to have a guide as to which episode did what, because Twin Peaks episodes do not have names, just episode numbers!]

As I reach the end of my Twin Peaks reviews, I begin to feel like I am rewatching a program on rendering dead animals into meat. As Twin Peaks rushes towards its end with the final boxed set of episodes 25 - 29, the show becomes like watching the fat cut away from a carcass as plotlines are excised and the show begins to focus on the menace of Windom Earle.

Also, because it won't ruin anything to mention it at this point, this part of the series stops doing the annoying soap opera trick of "no one truly dies." Stories in Twin Peaks frequently are built upon the backstories that lend menace to certain characters and situations and involve people murdered or disappeared well before the story begins. Unfortunately, in its worst section of episodes (Episodes 20 - 24) almost everyone who could pop up does and it guts the nefarious quality of some of them. Moreover, there comes a certain feeling of a lack of genuine menace to the series. But in "Episodes 25 - 29," the menace is back and it is front and center. It is Windom Earle!

"Episode 25" finds Truman waking up in bed with Eckhardt's last footsoldier, a woman intent on killing him. Defeated, the attention turns to tracking down Windom Earle, whose deadly chess match means a death each time a piece if forfeit. When Gordon returns to Twin Peaks to reinstate Cooper into the FBI, Donna begins to unravel the connections between Benjamin Horne and her mother. While at the Double R Diner, aimlessly doodling the tattoos from Major Briggs and the Log Lady, Annie notes that the symbols look like the petroglyphs in Owl Cave, leading Cooper and the Sheriff's department there to try to unravel more of the mysteries of Twin Peaks!

"Episode 26" finds the larger petroglyph that Windom Earle exposed in Owl Cave and Earle reveals his goal in Twin Peaks to his captive Leo and a new chess piece: he seeks the Black Lodge, a place of unimaginable evil power. As Benjamin Horne begins to manipulate the Miss Twin Peaks pageant for the gain of the little pine weasel and his machinations, Audrey's trip to Seattle keeps her away from John. As most of the town turns out for the Miss Twin Peaks auditions - including Nadine and Mike - Richard hosts a wine-tasting at the Great Northern with mixed results. And as Donna begins to unravel her family history, Cooper and Annie fall more and more into a real relationship and a love, a love that is witnessed by the villainous Windom Earle!

"Episode 27" has Donna coming to believe her father is not who she thought he was and Audrey returning to Twin Peaks just as John is leaving for Brazil. With Pete's help, though, she manages to get to him for a rendezvous. As Cooper and the sheriff's department deal with Windom Earle's latest move and Earle listens in on their plans, plans for the Miss Twin Peaks pageant progress as does the relationship between Annie and Cooper (against the advice of the supernatural forces that advise Cooper). Following the revelation of Earle's end goal through old government tapes, Earle captures Major Briggs to enlist his aid in finding the Black Lodge.

"Episode 28" finds Major Briggs released from his captivity by a most unlikely ally, one who suffers greatly as a result of his betrayal. As Windom Earle moves toward his endgame, Cooper and Truman piece together the puzzle when they realize that the door to the Black Lodge will open at a very specific time and place and that Earle plans to use the new Miss Twin Peaks as the queen he will kill to end the chess match. Donna and Audrey join the others joining the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant and that night, the event is pulled off and an unlikely winner is declared, only to be ensnared by Earle!

and finally, "Episode 29" rockets the series home with an explosive end to the pine weasel storyline as well as the conflict between Donna and Benjamin. Nadine's head injury at the Miss Twin Peaks pageant restores her memory and shatters her relationship with Mike and fractures Big Ed and Norma's romance. Earle and Annie enter the Black Lodge and Cooper, one step behind, enters into the nightmarish realm of the Black Lodge with dark results.

This boxed set represents one of the most difficult sections of Twin Peaks to evaluate because it begins with "Episode 25" still embroiled in some of the more disappointing and soap operatic elements of the series, which drags down the overall quality of this section of episodes. Conversely, the last two episodes of the series (and of this boxed set) reach out of the muck and make for truly great television. The result is a very erratic boxed set and series of episodes.

It is, however, in this section that Twin Peaks does both the most mundane work and presents its most extraordinary ideas. On the plot front, there are standard, disappointing soap operatic bits like Donna suddenly learning her father might not be and the closure of the ridiculous Richard storyline with the wine tasting and his becoming smitten at the Miss Twin Peaks pageant. And anything with Nadine as she and Mike become publicly active are all predictable and droll on the plot front.

But then there's the character front and here Twin Peaks does not disappoint. Windom Earle is characterized as a brutal genius and in this set we see both aspects. Earle kills without mercy and torments the near braindead Leo. Earle's merciless nature is not sacrificed in this section and he kills, tortures and kidnaps in order to get what he wants. But the brilliance of Twin Peaks is that Earle is also just as smart as he was characterized as. He may be brutal and insane, but he also is highly intelligent and - most importantly - he remains one step ahead of Cooper and the Twin Peaks sheriff's department the entire time. Earle is one of the ultimate villains because he is characterized as evil in an unflinching way and then the executes his character with that level of darkness that makes him a reasonable foil to Cooper's unflinching goodness.

Ultimately, Windom Earle is a nightmarish character and the final reversal in the final episode with his character is genius. And this set builds up to a knockdown series finale that is exceptional in its setup and a genuine letdown only in that it leaves several critical storylines up for debate. And the most tragic nature of the finale is that some of the most beloved characters of the series are fearlessly and - with some genuine sense of finality - audaciously lost. And for those who become emotionally invested in characters, this is a very disturbing twist and one that will shake many viewers.

What makes much of this section work is the acting. After hours of watching Twin Peaks, I finally realized where I recognized Mike from. Mike is played by Gary Hershberger, who played Matthew Gilardi on the first season of Six Feet Under (reviewed here!). His role as Mike is so very different and it's pretty impressive to see the growth of the actor just between these two performances. In this section, Hershberger manages to do what he never did on Six Feet Under; create a character moment where one feels genuine empathy for his otherwise brash and insufferable character.

On the flipside of that, Heather Graham's appearance in these episodes of Twin Peaks makes for a milestone in her career whereby the viewer is given a clear marker for her development as an actor. Unlike her naive character, Roller Girl, in Boogie Nights Graham as Annie is just a little too goody two-shoes in her performance. For sure, the character of Annie is intended to be something of an outsider and a woman who has not had much experience in the real world, but Graham's performance is often a little too wide-eyed for reality. There are moments Graham needs to make radical alterations to her character - like the strength she exhibits when Annie is captured by Earle - that Graham does not quite land as a plausible extension of her previously-presented character. One suspects that now she could do it.

And there are the appearances by Billy Zane and Brenda Strong that might well distract viewers now, but the real stories come from the performances of the regular cast members. Everett McGill, Peggy Lipton, Lara Flynn Boyle, Richard Beymer and Harry Goaz all give performances that restore their characters to the Twin Peaks map. Vastly underused is Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey and that is unfortunate. And while performers like Heather Graham and Kenneth Welsh (Windom Earle) are given more and more airtime in this final section of Twin Peaks, the series is still dominated by the performances of Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean.

Ontkean is given a wonderful chance to shine and perform as Sheriff Truman as Truman hits the bottle following the strange circumstances resulting in Josie's demise. Given that there is an actual character arc for Ontkean to work with, he rises to the challenge and delivers masterfully restoring Truman from drunkard to respectable Sheriff once again. And he has an ability to do quiet scenes that he capitalizes on in this grouping, most notably a very quiet scene involving him and Harry Goaz's Deputy Andy waiting for Cooper after Cooper disappears into the Black Lodge.

And then there's Kyle MacLachlan. MacLachlan plays off Welsh and Graham brilliantly in this final sequence and it is MacLachlan who helps sell the nightmarish world of the Black Lodge and the very last moment of the series. He portrays dopplegangers and upsetting villains in the Black Lodge and he counterbalances that well with his portrayal of the straightforward good Cooper in a way that is ultimately quite refreshing and realistic. He manages to close out the series with a bang on the performance front and he lands what could be a ridiculous moment with one of the most creepy and powerful deliveries of the series.

But the series ends here and it is an abrupt end, one that will disappoint many viewers for the way it opens up a whole can of worms in the Twin Peaks mythos that will - likely forever - go unresolved.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Twin Peaks - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the second and final season reviewed here!
or check out the entire series, available in the Gold Box Definitive edition, reviewed here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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If Ever There Were Twin Peaks To Pass On, "Episodes 20 - 24" Are Them!

The Good: Moments of character and plot involving the Windom Earl storyline
The Bad: Inane storylines, Focus on lamer characters, (Understandable) Lack of enthusiasm from some actors
The Basics: When Twin Peaks flounders, it falls hard with a block of episodes that are virtually unwatchable with plot-heavy, un-surreal episodes "20 - 24."


[IMPORTANT NOTE: As I proceed through the episodes of Twin Peaks with reviews, it is absolutely impossible to discuss some of the episodes without revealing some of the surprises I will work hard to keep while reviewing earlier episodes, especially when discussing second season episodes. No matter how careful I am, it is impossible to write about some of the later episodes without letting slip that some of the characters were (ultimately) not the killer of Laura Palmer or killed, etc. I shall do my best to minimize that, but given how serialized Twin Peaks is, it is almost impossible to do even a minimal plot summary without some nuggets slipping out. These reviews may be ideal for fans of the series who are sitting down to watch individual episodes and want to have a guide as to which episode did what, because Twin Peaks episodes do not have names, just episode numbers!]

In the second season of Twin Peaks, following the revelation of Laura Palmer's killer, the series went wild as it went into plot and character freefall. Without the focus on Agent Dale Cooper and his mission to solve the big mystery of Twin Peaks to focus on interwoven with the machinations of Benjamin Horne in his attempt to get the Packard Lumber Mill land, the writers and producers scrambled to create something that would fulfill the rest of the season order for Twin Peaks. And it's not like they didn't know where they wanted to get to, the problem was there were too many episodes to get to before they ended up landing where they wanted to. The result was some pretty disastrous television, encapsulated on "Episodes 20 - 24" of Twin Peaks. This set offers some of the shakiest episodes of the series, even as it builds toward the big finale. The result is a set that has some terrible b-plot material being brought front and center and some intriguing a-plot material being oppressed by it.

"Episode 20" deals with the return of Major Briggs and Cooper trying to discover where he disappeared to. Bobby Briggs abandons Shelly for his work with Benjamin Horne who has gone quite insane in a reclusive way; spending all of his time locked in his office dressed as a Confederate general and playing with recreation pieces to a Civil War battle. This leaves Audrey harried, which does not get relieved by Agent Cooper, who works with Denise and Ernie in a drug bust which results in Cooper being taken hostage by Jean Renault's men. Meanwhile, James Hurley finishes fixing up Evelyn's car and Big Ed, frustrated with Nadine's regression, makes his move on Norma. Norma makes the decision to allow her love for Ed to be free, which results in a dangerous showdown between Ed and Hank Jennings!

"Episode 21" finds the power out in Twin Peaks and Windom Earle having taken his first piece in the chess match and claiming his first victim. While Cooper struggles to deal with the escalating danger of the chess match, Shelly attempts to flee a very cognizant and violent Leo only to be rescued herself. Big Ed and Norma deal with the renewed spark between them and James finishes the work on Evelyn's car only to have her husband promptly killed, leaving him framed for the murder. Andy and Dick work to discover Nicky's origins and find the truth is too real for them and a new stranger enters the Great Northern on a mission to find Josie Packard, leaving Truman worried about his lover's life.

"Episode 22" finds Leo in Earle's company, the angry man held by the madman as he continues his dangerous chess match. Cooper receives a gift in the form of the return of Albert who fills in much of the Windom Earle backstory and Josie is confronted by the powerful Thomas Eckhardt. Dr. Jacoby, Jerry, Audrey and Bobby work to complete Benjamin Horne's delusion and effectively end the Civil War in his mind, allowing him to snap back to reality. James, framed by Evelyn, turns back to try to get a confession from her with terrible results.

"Episode 23" presents Benjamin Horne with his new plan to block the Ghostwood project using the little pine weasel as cover until he can get the Packard mill land and the project back. As Big Ed is broken up with by Nadine, he turns to Norma with unabashed love. Norma, in turn, decides it is time to end her marriage to Hank who is incarcerated for his various violences. And the situation between Josie and Thomas Eckhardt comes to a violent - and surreal head - which informs Cooper of the dangers of things to come and the continued existence of Bob.

"Episode 24" finds Sheriff Truman descending into drunk depression over the loss of Josie and Pete aiding Cooper in the chess match against Earle. Having lured his three queens out into the open, Earle witnesses Cooper meeting Annie, Norma's sister who has come from the convent to work in the diner. Big Ed and Nadine get some counseling from Dr. Jacoby and Audrey begins to move on with Mr. Wheeler, an old business pal of her father's. And Richard helps Ben throw a benefit for the little pine weasel.

What is unfortunate about this section of Twin Peaks is that it is almost all bad. Plotlines like Mike and Nadine, the Benjamin Horne Civil War General phase, James and Evelyn, and anything involving Dick are just homogeneously bad. These plotlines take on hugely contrived, very soap operatic aspects that make for pretty miserable television. To be fair, these five episodes of Twin Peaks are probably not truly awful the way some television can be, but they are so far below the quality of where Twin Peaks has traditionally been that it feels quite bad to the viewer and fan.

Actually, there are many aspects to these episodes that are just flat-out awful. Characters come and go for quick arcs, like Thomas Eckhardt and Evelyn and her psychopathic lover (who may or may not be her brother). The result is the feeling that the show is in transition and it's simply biding its time until it gets where it is going.

Almost all of the traditional genius of Twin Peaks is stripped away in these episodes for a harsh reality that is hardly interesting and certainly lacking in vision and the intense grace of David Lynch's dream-vision that brought Twin Peaks to popularity well before these episodes. So, for example, outside the opening sequence to "Episode 20" wherein Major Briggs begins recounting his disappearance and Josie's final scenes, there is no sense of the surrealism and unique oddity that characterized Twin Peaks. The Nicky storyline wraps up with a bland reality that does not even grace the pathetic child character with an exit; instead Dick and Andy are given a broad expository scene by Dr. Heyward on the circumstances surrounding the child's birth and formative years. It's dry, it's dull and it does no services to any larger storyline.

And the emphasis on the plot events guts many of the characters. So, for example, with the Andy, Dick and Lucy love triangle, we never learn what it is that even gave Lucy the inclination toward Richard and what his interest in her actually was. The competition between the two men for her heart seems forced and increasingly ridiculous because the characters stopped making sense. There is no chemistry between Lucy and Richard and the quirky romance between Lucy and Andy is sublimated for the plot aspects in this set of episodes.

Similarly, the various machinations surrounding Josie and Eckhardt seem both rushed and contrived in the most common of soap opera fashions. The episodes fail to resonate when the relationships between the Packard backstory characters are simply being laid out for the viewers with little regard to sensibility or genuine intrigue. Instead, Eckhardt is a fairly generic gangster from another place with little sense of genuine identity.

And the less said about the witless James Hurley plot the better. The whole James leaves town, gets into trouble with another man's wife and is set up for a murder he did not commit only to be rescued by his true love whom he rides out on again, is straight out of the soap opera plot twist playbook. It's obvious and it feels as cheap as it is when it is presented on Twin Peaks, a series usually well above such common conceits.

Benjamin Horne suffers as well and any sense of his integrity as a genuine businessman is gutted by his sudden mental illness. Indeed, the only character that benefits with true growth here is Audrey Horne. Audrey takes charge and works to save her father's business empire and in the process becomes more mature, responsible and clever. It is almost realistic, then that she overcompensates for her new maturity by diving headfirst toward Mr. Wheeler when she cannot get Cooper. From the DVD bonus features on definitive edition, viewers would know that Audrey no longer pursuing Cooper comes from actor Kyle MacLaughlan's discomfort over the idea of the FBI agent being involved with an eighteen year-old high school student.

At least Wheeler is played by a decent and plausible actor. Billy Zane brings the same bland good looking definitively male quality to the role of Wheeler as he did to his brief part in Orlando (reviewed here!). In a similar way, David Warner - who would later wow audiences with his masterful performance of Gul Macet on Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Chain Of Command, Part II" (reviewed here!) - impresses audiences more with his presence in these episodes of Twin Peaks than his actual performance of Eckhardt. He is given a bit role and the bland undefined villainy of the character does not suit a performer of his stature and it is no surprise or even genuine interest when Warner departs quite quickly.

In fact, this section of Twin Peaks is plagued by the actors seeming to know they are working in something that is no longer thrilling or unique. Kyle MacLachlan, Sherilynn Fenn, Michael Ontkean and Richard Beymer all phone in their performances as the bigger characters going in lame directions. Peggy Lipton and Everett McGill, who play Norma and Big Ed restore some sense of sexual chemistry to their characters and they do it successfully, but they are not given enough time and space (yet) to truly run with it.

The only genuinely worthwhile performance that is consistently delivered comes from Kenneth Welsh, who plays the villainous Windom Earle. Welsh plays a master of disguise (who has pretty lame disguises) who begins to prey upon Twin Peaks and Welsh does a great job of insinuating intelligence and madness into the character. Welsh has an expressiveness to his eyes that plays silently crazy remarkably well. He's the only reason to watch this section of Twin Peaks on the acting front.

And that's not enough at all. For a series once so high, this represents the low-water mark and it's painful for a fan of the series to sit through these episodes, much less purchase them.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Twin Peaks - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the second and final season reviewed here!
or check out the entire series, available in the Gold Box Definitive edition, reviewed here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Billy Zane, please visit my reviews of:
Titanic
Back To The Future II
Back To The Future

3.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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