Hey again you rascally wabbits, Harry here with a report from the premiere of RETURN TO PARADISE, a bit of a precursor of the remake of Psycho, since it has Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn, though it is sans Van Sant and a classic script, but hey... Like that'll make a difference with the 'recreation'. Anyway there are spoilers in the below review, but if you're dying to hear tale of how good the film is.. read away....
I attended the premiere of Polygram's "Return to Paradise" last night in Westwood. It was at the Mann Village which is one of the big theatres in the northwest corner of Westwood - cool theater with balcony (although my seats were in the main section). The movie stars Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. Before the spoilers, I'll tell you that it wasn't the greatest or worst movie I've seen this year -- very much down the middle. The acting was generally good, but the pace was slow at times and te movie was somewhat disjointed without sufficient set-ups so that those all important "leaps of faith" in the plot (where you need to believe that two people would act a certain way, for example) are as undetectable, seemless, believable and smooth as possible. Now the detail -- with a lot of spoilers.
The movie is about 3 guys (Vaughn, Joauquin (sp?) Phoenix, and another guy) who are spenging time in Malayasia after college. They smoke a lot of hash and live on the beach. Vaughn and the other guy leave to return to the U.S., while Phoenix is going to stay behind to help endangered species in S.E. Asia (orangutans). After Vaughn and the other guy leave, Phoenix is arrested for possession of hash. The kicker is that he is caught with enough so that the sentence is death. The movie mostly takes place two years later and centers around the 8 days leading up to Phoenix's execution -- his appeals have run out and he is on death row. It turns out that he never told anyone about the other two guys' involvement until recently because he didn't want them to get in trouble. But, if he can get them to take their portion of the blame (3 years in prison each or one doing 6 years) then they won't kill him. Anne Heche plays his "attorney" and approaches Vaughn and the other guy to try to get them to agree to go back to Malayasia and "save" Phoenix by spending 3 years in jail apiece. The soul-searching presents a great question: would you go back? It is a great premise.
Vaughn and the other guy are total opposites. Vaughn is just living life day-to-day without any thought of his future or any goals or dreams. He drives a limo and is basically valueless - a typical New Yorker - don't bother me, I won't bother you, or better yet, don't ask me for help, and I won't ask you. The other guy has a successful career and is about to be married. Vaughn is totally reluctant to go back and actually says no on a number of occassions. The other guy first agrees to go if Vaughn will, but quickly tells Heche that he will go no matter what. There is a weak plotline with Jada Pinkett Smith as a newspaper reporter who is trying to break the story. Heche convinces her not to run until the day before the execution for fear that the Malayasians will be offended by the publicity and kill Phoenix sooner.
Eventually, Heche convinces them, or they convince each other (some combination of the two) to go back to Malayasia with her on the eve of the execution. By this time, Vaughn and her have started sleeping together. She then admits that she is really Phoenix's sister which calls her motivations into question -- will she do anything to save him? Does she really love Vaughn or not? The two of them decide to turn their backs on the whole thing and hop the quickest flight to NY.
But of course, something happens. At this point, the two guys switch direction. Vaughn, although totally upset about Heche, decides to stay and the other guy leaves, not knowing what to believe, including whether or not the deal she has struck for them is real or not. Will they kill the two of them in exchange for releasing Phoenix? Vaughn arrives at the courtroom just before they are about to sentence Phoenix, for the last time, to death and the judge seems impressed with Vaughn's courage. Before the judge reverses the decision to execute, the press decends upon the courthouse. The local newspaper has printed Jada Smith's article and the judge is totally offended. He reneges on the deal and sentences Vaughn to prison and Phoenix to death. They actually show Phoenix being hanged. It is an emotional with Vaughn screaming through the bar window of his cell, overlooking the courtyard where the hanging is taking place, to Phoenix "You're not alone--I am hear" over and over again. It was reminiscent of the scene in "Good Will Hunting" where Robin Williams keeps saying "it's not your fault."
So the movie ends with Phoenix dead, Vaughn in jail, and Heche on her way back to the U.S. to bury her brother, with a promise to Vaughn that she will be back and stay in Malayasia until he is released -- which she says will happen in 6 months after the press dies down.
Overall, the acting is generally good. Phoenix, the other guy, and Heche are great. Vaughn is good at times but his sracastic personality made it difficult to believe he would change to such an unslefish person so quickly. When a character "evolves" too severely in a movie, I think it asks too much of the audiencen because the fact of the matter is people usually don't change that much, if at all. Jada Pinkett Smith was not good - I'll leave it at that.
The music was terrific. But the main flaw was at the critical junctures - Vaughn falling for Heche, Heche falling for Vaughn (it probably should have happenened when they were drunk - more believable), Vaughn changing his mind and staying, the other guy leaving. These could have been more believable if they were set up better. It is like the problem I had with "City of Angels." A movie that would have been really good if it was 20 minutes LONGER. When Meg Ryan gets killed, it comes about five minutes after her and Cage fall in love and you don't believe there was actually a strong enough bond there.
So, all in all, a decent movie, vauguely reminscent of "The Year of Living Dangerously," but not nearly as good.
Shiherlis
