Week in Review
There are two kinds of roles that actors take to rejuvenate sagging careers: they either go transgressive or introspective. Either a guy plays a junky or he plays a dissatisfied yuppie. A woman becomes a hooker or a millionaire who has everything but happiness. After Hollywood has taken their mediocre acting talents as far as they can go, these actors make a last stab at credibility in smaller films that give them a chance to show their “range.”
Unfortunately, “range” to these people means they gain 30 pounds by eating lunch every day, stop dying their hair and let the gray show, or they play a character with a blue collar job and perfectly capped teeth. I’ve seen two films recently that just tickled my angry spot: Friends With Money and Edmond.
Friends With Money “stars” Jennifer Anniston and Frances McDormand. Jennifer you might remember from her eponymous haircut, the “hot” girl on Friends, and the girl who got to bang Brad Pitt; now she’s playing a maid with a $300 haircut, a manicure, and perfect skin. Frances McDormand, long past Blood Simple, Crimewave, Missippi Burning, and Fargo, plays a fashion designer who has success and money, but is still a little unhappy. Awww. It’s a Coming-of-forty-five film in which I couldn’t find it in my heart to care about anyone.
Edmond, starring William H. Macy, is like the movie Falling Down, but meaner, and with a script that makes little sense. Denise Richards, who once was all over TV and is now 35 years old, plays a stripper in an upscale club; she acts like she’s never been in a strip club before. Maybe she should’ve asked her ex-husband Charlie Sheen for advice. Mena Suvari, who once did the American Pie and American Beauty films, but is now relegated to videogame voiceovers, plays, as listed in the credits, “Whore.” Both of them are still totally beautiful, but they are committing the fatal sin in Hollywood — aging. Julia Stiles plays a slutty homophobic cocktail waitress. Hopefully her career’s still intact, but this is a bad sign.
The real headscratching moment of Edmond was after it was over, and I realized it was written by David Mamet, who is one of my favorite screen and drama writers. Every time I’m in a discussion of best written screenplays, I usually list Glengarry Glen Ross. Then I realized the director was Stuart Gordon, one of the Masters of Horror directors who also directed The ReAnimator. He also directed Robot Jox and Space Truckers. Nuff said.
