THE GINGERBREAD MAN |
| CREDITS: Director: Robert Altman. Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth Davidtz, Robert
Downey JR, Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger, Famke Janssen & Robert Duvall. USA 1997. INTRODUCTION: So another iconoclastic 70's director is reduced to doing a John Grisham adaptation, as Altman follows somewhat inevitably in Coppola's footsteps. SYNOPSIS: Studio in desperate need of a hit take the safe option of adapting the latest work of a popular trash paperback author (Grisham) only this time they drag down an accomplished director (Altman) and a lauded foreign cinematographer (Changwei Gu) with them. REVIEW: This film is not up to the standards of "M*A*S*H" or "Short Cuts", hell it's not even up to the standards of "Pret-A-Porter" or "Popeye". Altman's hit-and-miss strike rate has reduced him to the sort of film-making by numbers that he attacked so viciously in "The Player". Changwei Gu's cinematography is still as appealing as it was in "Farewell My Concubine" and "Ju Dou" adding greatly to Altman's dark and moody mis-en-scene, which uses the approaching hurricane to great effect. And Downey JR, on day release from a correctional facility for the course of the filming, provides the only bright spot, as an alchy gumshoe, in an otherwise disappointing array of performances. Branagh & Davidtz are uninspired, Berenger & Janssen are wasted, Real Blonde Hannah goes brunette and Duvall puts in another truly appalling performance; one suspects he wouldn't still be working if it wasn't for the fact that it's a legal requirement that he guest star in any film set in the deep south. The film's biggest problem is of course the source text. There is little if anything script-writer Al Hayes could do with Grisham's unpublished story to make it into a worthwhile film. One awaits the whole film to see which way the surprise twists and turns will take you only to make the shock discovery that there are none. Please join me for a two minutes silence. Mutt's Rating: ** |