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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2002)
1 3 , 2002 D eath to S moochy Like previous Danny DeVito films (T hrow M om m a from the Train, T he W ar o f the R oses), his latest project brims with inspired lunacy, dark humor and inventive situations. Publicly disgraced kiddie show entertainer Robin Williams plots to destroy his successor, Sm oochy (Edward Norton, brilliant as always), who meanwhile attempts to reform the corrupt and dangerous world of children’s entertainm ent. Harvey Fierstein’s amusing appearance as a charity fund racke teer is not the only “gay them e” here. — Kevin M oore <£§> <£> <£%> H ollywood E nding N o surprises here; it’s vintage Woody Allen. He’s a neurotic New York hypochon driac whose filmmaking career is essentially over. His producer ex-wife (the ravishing T èa Leoni) wants to help him make a com e back with a new script, but, alas and alack, her new fiancée (Treat W illiams) runs the studio and can’t stand him. T h e question is, who could? Tired is the notion that beautiful young women would continue to fall for this annoying old man. Still, he’s hilarious and so is the film. — Lisa Bradshaw girls become gay? W hat could have been a homophobic embarrassment isn’t in this adap tation by Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juer- gensen o f their stage play. Fortunately the pair insisted on playing the leads, too, which is largely why this film is so dam endearing. — LB L antana Director Ray Lawrence orchestrates a com plex cast of couples in writer Andrew Bovell’s riveting examination of adultery, trust and deception. W hen therapist Barbara Hershey counsels a gay patient, she begins to get sec ond thoughts about her distant husband, G eof frey Rush. Is he or isn’t he? — Jim Radosta LV Mk O h my gosh, an embarrassing social situation! Hollywood Ending is vintage Woody. K issing J essica S tein <£> <&> P anic R oom Two attractive women find love in the personal ads, but can essentially straight In the “for what it is" category: For what it is— an action suspense thriller, basically— Panic Room is a success. Direc tor David Fincher (Seven, Fight C lub) offers the usual showy, technophilic camera tricks, and it’s filmed in his patented slick, dark Dank ’n ’ Damp- ovision (which actually does befit the story). We also get to see Jodie Foster display the fiercest maternal instincts this side of Linda Hamilton in Term inator 2: Judgm ent Day. — Christopher M cQ uatn W ilt's pipped lid whit's flopped, Il i theater le ir yon. T rembling B efore G - d Sandi Dubowski’s must-see documentary, which runs only through May 5 at Hollywood Theatre, follows the extremely varied lives of a group of les bian and gay Orthodox Jews, each with a unique experience of the grossly unfair struggle and suffer ing that occurs when an individual’s sexuality is pitted against faith. These stories, in their realness, are as painful as they are compelling; not everyone gets a happy ending, but everyone in front of Dubowski’s camera earns our empathy. — CM W orld T raveler In order to work, an unoriginal idea needs a unique spin. Writer/director Bart Freundlich tries quirky ensemble characters in this film about an unsettled husband and father on a road trip to “find himself,” but they’re not quirky enough to save V dud, bottom of the bag only if you’re really hungry <*£> <§><$£> good effort, pass the salt <5> < 3 ^ ¿S'* <yyb <£§> » mmmm, tasty! < £ > < § > < £ } get the big tub o com the script. World Traveler is predictable, is too long and never works up the sympathy for the protago nist you get the feeling you’re supposed to have. Freundlich did cast his lover, the inimitable Julianne Moore, though, which helps— a lot. — LB m Y T u M ama T ambien Using storytelling quirks similar to those in A m élie, director/co-writer Alfonso Cuarôn somehow achieves the impossible: A teen sex comedy that actually shows sex. A buddy movie in which one friendship’s limits truly are put to the test. A coming-of-age road trip where the characters arrive in a much different place by the end of their journey. D on’t miss it. —JR
