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Three By CAPONE!! SHOWTIME; THE DEBUT; VAN WILDER!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

Capone recently had an adventure with Roger Ebert onboard his Floating Film Festival. At the end of April, I'll be heading to the Midwest for an Ebert adventure of my own. I'm hoping a get a chance to see Capone at the Overlooked Film Festival.

Even if I don't, it's a pleasure as always to be able to post a couple of quick reviews by our man in Chi-town. Here he is...

Hey, Harry/Moriarty. Capone in Chicago here with a few tidbits about a trio of not-so-great films that some of you might enjoy. Enjoy...

SHOWTIME

It makes me a little sad that Robert De Niro's most popular films of late have been half-baked comedies (MEET THE PARENTS, ANALYZE THIS). As comedies, these films are already I suppose, but they don't touch the work he's done recently in THE SCORE, RONIN. (We won't talk about the lame dramas he's done lately like 15 MINUTES and MEN OF HONOR.) And it saddens me all the more that De Niro is making sequels to the two comedies listed above (titled MEETS THE FOCKERS and ANALYZE THAT). I won't lie to you: SHOWTIME did make me laugh more than a few times, due mostly to Eddie Murphy's explosive performance. He is all over the place here, trying so hard to do so much with so little material to work with. The script for SHOWTIME probably took up five pages in a notebook. This is successful as a comedy because of the lead actors.

Robert De Niro is police Det. Mitch Preston, a high-profile undercover (that makes sense) cop who makes it a habit of making the big busts. Eddie Murphy is Trey Sellars, a wanna-be actor and beat cop who cares more about making sure his best side is facing the news chopper cameras than catching the criminals. Rene Russo is Chase, a television producer who comes up with the idea to pair these two mismatched officers in a reality show that would simply follow them around both on and off the job. Sort of a cross between "Cops" and "The Real World." Chase even hires William Shatner (T.V.'s T.J. Hooker in an inspired casting choice) to give the two tips on how T.V. cops should act. For example, he tries to teach them how to slide across the hood of their car; De Niro counters by explaining that cops don't do this because their gun scratches the paint from the hood. Chase even offers to redecorate their homes to make them more camera friendly and buy them sportier cars. Murphy is all for the exposure; De Niro hates it and spends most of the film with an annoying sour puss.

Meanwhile the two men are actually trying to solve a case involving illegally manufactured weapons. Not surprisingly, the case is the least interesting part of the film, and the villains are so boring they were probably made of cardboard. The only thing that works here is the talent and chemistry between the two leads, and even that doesn't always hold together. Russo's producer character is your stereotypical motor-mouth, cell phone affixed to ear, always in a hurry, the show is everything caricature. SHOWTIME barely gets a passing grade from me.

THE DEBUT

Probably the best of this bunch, THE DEBUT isn't exactly a new film, but one that is worth seeking out on a certain level. It began as a popular film festival selection in 2000 and has been slowly making its way around the country ever since as a self-distributed piece. With no studio backing or distribution, THE DEBUT has managed to make about $1.5 million by simply going from city to city, opening in a few theatres, and bringing the filmmakers along where the film travels to promote it. It's a unique system that seems to have paid off.

THE DEBUT acts as something of an entry-level education about the Filipino-American community in California. For those of you that have seen SCRATCH, you know that Filipino Americans have furthered the deejay and hip-hop culture to an amazing degree. THE DEBUT digs a little deeper into the strange and wonderful mix of cultures (Asian, black, Latino) that seem to make up the younger generation of Filipino Americans. Dante Basco plays Ben, a gifted high school senior who, as the film opens, sells his impressive comic book collection to get money to enroll in a prestigious art college where he hopes to realize his dream of becoming an animator. His father, a postal worker, wants him to be a doctor, and tension between the two always seem to be up. Ben is even a little embarrassed of his Filipino heritage, and almost never invites his friends over to meet his family, who is in the final stages of planning for the 18th birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose. Ben is also in the early stages of courting a white girl, which many of his Filipino friends don't like.

Most of the film takes place at or around the elaborate party, which features some fantastic traditional and modern singing and dancing. At the party, Ben meets his sister's best friend Annabelle, and the flirting is set into overdrive. THE DEBUT is a movie of coming and going. People leave the party in a huff and return apologetic. It's not to complicated or original, but the nature of some of the conflicts can be. Annabelle's ex-boyfriend, Augusto, is a violent wanna-be gangsta who, we are told, can't go to a party without ruining it with fighting. And all of his anger is aimed right at Ben. I found it so interesting how the young Filipino's had so completely adapted the local cultures of Southern California. All the boys play basketball, listen to rap and dance music, and call each other "bitch" and "nigga." When you hear this, you don't know whether to laugh or be bothered by it.

THE DEBUT is far from a great film. The filmmaking style by director Gene Cajayon is pretty straightforward and no-frills; the acting is passable (I particularly liked Tirso Cruz III as Ben's father, Roland, and Filipino superstar Eddie Garcia as Ben's grandfather); and the story is about as straight-forward and time-tested as it comes. THE DEBUT works because of the subject matter and context of its drama. I've never seen these people and this culture represented so substantially on film before. I had questions about traditions and behavior that I rarely have after any film, and that has to count for something. THE DEBUT may or may not come to a theatre near you. But if it does, it may be worth seeking out.

VAN WILDER

I refuse to call this film by its full name: NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VAN WILDER, because that would degrade the great National Lampoon's reputation for fine comedies, such as ANIMAL HOUSE and the first two VACATION films (I choose to ignore EUROPEAN VACATION). Ryan Reynolds (from "Two Guys and a Girl") is the title character, a man who seems to be making going to college a career as he enters his seventh year at his school. He basically runs the place; he even has an assistant to schedule he social calendar, take notes for him in classes he opts not to attend, organize elaborate pranks, and handle his public relations. Reynolds has a smarmy charm that works on you most of the time, but when the filmmakers try to sweeten him up, I stopped caring (not that I cared that much before...you know what I'm saying).

When Van's rich father (played by ANIMAL HOUSE alum Tim Matheson) cuts off his tuition money, Van and his crew must come up with a way to make enough money to keep him in school. He begins to organize amazing parties for some of the geekiest clubs and fraternities on campus, and his event planning abilities captures the attention of the school paper's editor (Tom Everett Scott), who assigns his top reporter, Gwen (AMERICAN PIE's Tara Reid), to write a story about Mr. Wilder. The two start to fall for each other, which makes Gwen's pre-med boyfriend (Daniel Cosgrove) very mad. VAN WILDER is clearly trying to position itself as this generation's ANIMAL HOUSE, but it ain't happening. I won't lie to you: I laughed my butt off in several places during VAN WILDER. There's a scene where Van's dog "refills" some cream-filled pastries that redefines all definitions of the word "Wrong." There's also a scene where Cosgrove's character re-enacts Jeff Daniels' bathroom scene from DUMB AND DUMBER, but in an even fowler manner. Oh yes, I laughed.

But inbetween the big laughs are large gaps of unfunny, lame attempts at making Van a sentimental hero. Gwen makes him rethink his plan to stay in college for the rest of his life, and he is essentially wussified. And speaking of Tara Reid: I do not get why any level of popularity has crept into her life. She has the sex appeal, talent, and body type of a piece of uncooked spaghetti; and what little momentum VAN WILDER manages to generate comes to a horrifying halt when she comes on screen. When I look at her, I expect a "Feed the Children" logo to appear under her. But even without Tara Reid, VAN WILDER is hurting in many departments. Wait for it on cable folks; you won't be waiting long. If you can't wait, it opens March 29.

Capone

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