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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2002)
r What's popped and what's flopped, in a theater near you. ‘y v 1 dud, bottom of the bag ¡C^ D ahmer N only if you’re really hungry David Jacobson’s powerful docudrama <C^> <*£> gtxxJ effort, pass the salt about Jeffrey Dahmer does the unthink able— it turns the notorious serial killer into (C^> (C^> mmmm, tasty! a pathetic specimen of humanity and makes dC3> get the big tub o’ com a creditable effort toward explaining, with out excusing, some of the mind-set that drove his crimes. --------- Dahmer was con- victed in mur dering 16 young men, the killings being attended by various bizarre sex rituals including cannibalism. The case gained further notoriety because M il waukee’s homophobic police department blew the chance to nail Dahmer when they interpreted a desperate, naked, young Laotian man as the killer’s lover running out after a D ahm er plays through Sept. 12 at Clinton Street Theater ll„ _ spat. M Dahmer was, in fact, known in the gay community as someone to <£%><&<&<&> T he G ood G irl avoid, but this didn’t prevent the charismat ic, racist, self-hating homosexual from Friends star Jennifer Aniston rescues her attracting plenty of victims. career from the brink of syndication in this Jacobson, who also made 1993s The Secret challenging dramedy from the guys behind Chuck & Buck. She plays a depressed wife Life: Jeffrey Dahiner, wants to do more than whose misery loves the company of a sullen co mere ly record reality, so he takes us (ready or worker (Jake Gyllenhaal). When he turns out not!) inside the killer’s head, deftly inter to be more than she bargained for, she finds weaving memories of troubled teen years an herself at a difficult crossroads. of seduc family life with present-day —Jim Radosta tion and murder. A particularly unsettling sequence shows the young Dahmer (Jeremy N ever A gain Renner) trying to seduce a straight boy by convincing him that getting a gay blow job A misanthropic exterminator (Jeffrey Tam- would be a major act of rebellion. This cat- hor) loses his erection during a heterosexual and-mouse game is punctuated with trade- encounter and convinces himself he must be gay. mark attempts to drug his victim, followed by While cmising for “chicks with dicks" at a har he a sudden, lethal assault, visualized elliptically. meets another fiftysomething who has given up Renner’s portrayal is intelligent and sym on love (Jill Clayburgh). Believe it or not, this is pathetic, illustrating someone who is so shut the premise behind writer/director Eric Schaef off from his feelings that his only way to find fer’s shockingly inept romantic comedy, made love is through murdering and hacking up further unwatchahle with tasteless tranny, midget other gay men, the ultimate grim response of and dildo “jokes." What a missed opportunity to the self-loathing homo. put an older couple in the spotlight. — Gary Morris TICKETS AT ALL TICKETNASTER OUTLETS t TNE PCPA BOX OFFICE OR CHARCE BY PRONE SOS 224 4400 n c iu n mat it s u u iti n m in c e c iu c e TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE ALADDIN THEATER BOX OFFICE THE UNIMPEACHABLE MADAME P R E S ID E N T OF CO M EDY I m i f n 1 i é ***. .Jap IL. i # j j a . 1 1 W 1 || m ï l l i i f P M ì i m 2 j WMER SE HimWKIt ® P0«EU PHQHE 503-23J-19M theatei com A I broth EIS, OTRH1® ttAWNBBWtt j EU linpiHSW «IMS 0» Æ O ne H our P hoto Ptxir Robert De Niro. How did the ’80s Raging Bull wind up in such average fare of late? He does his best with this dull, clunking drama about a New York detec tive trying to protect his Long Beach unkie son from being arrested for murder, while battling thugs with names like Spy- der and Snake. Frances M cDirm and is saddled with the thankless role o f the paticnt-to-a-point girlfriend. i — Lisa Bradshaw Sure, it’s trashy and manipulative, hut it’s so entertaining! Mark Romanek (the genius behind groundbreaking videos by Madonna, M ichael Jackson and Nine Inch Nails) wrote and directed this creepy j thriller about a loner photo clerk M (Robin W illiam s in a strong per- form ance) obsessed with the aVl “perfect” family. L aser S urgery N ow A vailable ! Com panion Pet Clinics M F ri 8am • 6pm S A T 8 a m • 5 pm W est L inn Sun 11am-4pm W est L inn Portland \ Salem \ Vancouver 19343 Willamette Drive C LA C K A M A S 16317 S E 82nd Drive T igard 13500 S W Pacific Hwy 82 nd A v E N E 3150 N E 82nd Ave • • • • (5 0 3 ) (5 0 3 ) (5 0 3 ) (5 0 3 ) 635-3115 657-0225 670-9707 546-1044
