Hey folks, Harry here... remember that time back in the eighties and early nineties when the idea of a new Kevin Kline flick would inspire joy and anticipation rather than a yawn? Me too... I miss that time, what happened to that world? It isn't that he's making bad movies, just uninteresting uninspired ones. Here's another...
Hey Harry,
I've written to you a couple times in the past -- most notably, a test screening for ADAPTATION in Scottsdale, AZ. Well, color me the man who catches virtually all test screenings for quiet films in the area. I just got back from a test screening of the new Kevin Kline film, THE EMPERORS' CLUB.
Now, let me just say that I was probably the youngest person in the audience. The median age at the AMC Esplanade was 50, though that doesn't excuse any of them from telling the "preview pollers" after the show that it was "an A+ movie" or "fantastic." That just means that they don't know a middling movie when they see one. Or ... age 50+ is the perfect demographic for this film.
I'm 25 years old and I'm an equal opportunist when it comes to movies. If someone were to say: "Wow, that's a surprise. THE EMPERORS' CLUB wasn't supposed to be THE MATRIX," I'd rap them upside the head with a pint of Four Peaks Kiltlifter. What kind of movies do I like, then? Good ones.
This is a Kevin Kline vehicle, plain and simple. He plays a history professor at a boy's prep school in New England, and he does it very well. It's not Best Actor quality (as Universal no doubt expects it to be), but he's convincing in both his middle and retirement ages. The movie portends to be DEAD POETS SOCIETY and MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS, though it never quite reaches a believable emotional moment. Instead, we are subjected to cliche after cliche in the story.
The basic premise is (SPOILERS) that Kline's character moderates a "Mr. Julius Caesar" contest where he asks questions of three of the brightest students about Greek and Roman mythology. Beforehand, though, we are introduced to the snotty son of a U.S. Senator (circa 1973), who does all of the "I'm too good for this" posturing and rattles the straight-laced conservatism of the school. Kline's professor does his best to guide the student toward greatness (there are some genuinely engaging moments when Kline talks about his students leaving their mark in history) -- even to the extent of pushing the Senator's son into the contest at the expense of a more deserving student. In the end, the student cheats, but loses once the professor catches onto the ruse.
Anyway, the movie suddenly jumps forward and the bratty kid is now a politician of sorts (I wasn't quite sure -- but I was losing interest near the end). Now, get this: some twenty years later, prior to endowing the school with loads of money, he wants Kline to come out of retirement to mediate another Mr. Julius Caesar contest "to reclaim his intellectual virtue." Whatever. I was absolutely stunned when I heard gasps around the auidence once it was revealed that -- yet again -- the kid cheats (albeit with more technical, yet no less conspicuous, means).
Overall, with the ending sequence capping it off, the movie is hollow and doesn't explore any of the characters' motivations as to why they do what they do. I never felt like I was part of these kids' lives, nor Kline's. There is some talk of parallels between the professor and the kid's childhoods, but nothing beyond that. Embeth Davidtz has a thankless role of looking gorgeous and complaining about her husband, disappearing, then returning without any explanation beyond (oh, yes) one of the many bad voiceovers. There is no emotional core to the film whatsoever. It felt like a novel -- and may very well be -- stripped down to its essential storyline, which is pretty thin "history repeats itself" stuff to begin with.
I never really bought the reunion of the children for the "Mr. Julius Caesar" redux at the end, either. Kline's professor is never shown to be so engaging and dynamic that he warranted all of the students returning to laud their teacher. That sort of camraderie is hollow and poorly done, pointing toward the tenor of the film itself. It amounts to a giant frat party at the end. A film cannot feature child actors for 2/3 of screen time and have adults replace them believably for the final act without coming off as ringing false. Maybe someone will buy into it -- and I heard people that certainly did -- but it is a poor substitute for something that should have been far greater and resonant.
Overall, ** out of 4.
As always, call me "Going to Four Peaks Brewery" -- and after tonight's film, I might have more than three to drink.
