Prof. Moriarty has sent us a double dose of delightful details of his thoughts on two upcoming cinema attractions, "The Rounders", and "Clay Pigeons". Father Geek here has seen the new Matt Damon poker pic and I can tell you its a real treat, reminded me of the old 1965 Steve McQueen film "The Cincinnati Kid" that Sam Peckinpah and Norman Jewison co-directed. I haven't seen this "other" Vince Vaughn movie yet so I'll leave it to the scurge of London to Fill you in....
Hey, Head Geek... "Moriarty" here.
I'm tired of toying with Holmes and his ilk, Harry. Slinking through the shadows is no life for someone like me. I've decided that it's time to step up my efforts to implement my Evil Master Plan To Save The World (copyright 1998, all rights reserved). Much of my attention has been focused on a piece of proprietary software designed to randomly generate screenplays from any chosen genre (SF, horror, film noir, bad SNL sketches turned features) that should allow me to replace all the hacks in Hollywood in one fell swoop. Then again, based on some of the films this town has barfed out recently, I think someone may have already perfected such a program and named it "Akiva Goldsman."
In an effort to see what current filmmakers are bringing to the genre table, I took it upon myself to see two new films this week. The first of them is the upcoming CLAY PIGEONS, directed (and written, I assume, since I saw it without credits) by newcomer David Dobkin. So far the film is known primarily as "the other Vince Vaughn/Joaquin Phoenix film." Having missed RETURN TO PARADISE, I can't compare the work they did in the two films. Based on their work in this picture, though, I'd say they have an easy chemistry.
So what is CLAY PIGEONS? Well, that's a question I'd like to ask to Dobson himself, because I don't think he's really sure. Things get off to an interesting start with Clay (Phoenix) and his buddy out drinking beer and shooting guns. We learn that Clay has been screwing his friend's wife, and his friend is now looking for a little payback. He kills himself, making it look like murder and effectively framing Clay.
Clay isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he manages somehow to cover his ass. The police write off the death as an accident, leaving Clay in the clear. This also opens the way for Clay and his friend's widow to continue their affair more openly, something she wants very much. Clay is disgusted with himself, though, and tries to slip out of it. When she gets nasty about what she wants, Clay ends up with another dead body to dispose of.
Up to this point, the film is essentially a film noir piece, the kind of dust bowl tough guy stuff that Jim Thompson used to do a thousand times better in his sleep. Be warned... I'm about to indulge in some spoilers. Everything before this point in the film seems to be one genre, so it's odd when Lester Long (Vaughn) shows up. He's a smooth-talking truck driving good ol' boy. He also just happens to be a serial killer.
Oops! Did I give that away? Well, it's not like you won't know the minute Vaughn shows up. It's not his fault. I'm sure he delivers the performance that Dobkin wanted. It's just that there are no serial killers out there like this. They only exist in movies. Impossibly slick, able to charm anyone, free of any outward sign of their madness, the Hollywood serial killer seems to exist only to play mind games with innocent bystanders. In reality, of course, most of these men are broken pathetic figures that spend their whole lives desperately trying to imitate what they think of as "normal" behavior. These guys aren't slick. They can't just appear and disappear at will (and always at the exact right moment for maximum convenience). It's a construct of the movies, and it's getting very, very old.
Now... having said that, this film is not without merit. Dobkin manages to interject a fair amount of wit into what could otherwise by impossibly grim. Part of that is the "aw, shucks" glee with which Vaughn digs into his role. Another big part of it is Janeane Garafolo, always appealing, as an FBI agent on Vaughn's trail. It's unfortunate that both of them are more appealing than the film's lead. It throws the whole film off-balance. The real potential of this pairing is glimpsed in only one scene when Garafolo unknowingly buys Vaughn a drink at a bar. For that moment, these characters lurch to life and CLAY PIGEONS is almost a real movie.
By film's end, though, it's all sunk back into the quicksand of cliche, mixing genres with an unsure hand, and we're left with nothing truly new or memorable. It's just another serial killer film, just another film noir wannabe. Part of the problem with these genres is that they're tired, worn out. A few years back, John Dahl struggled to kickstart noir with his one-two punch of THE LAST SEDUCTION and RED ROCK WEST. While I've always felt both films were slightly overrated, they did display a keen understanding of and affection for the genre. After that splashy debut, though, Dahl stumbled by trying to do more of the same, but on a larger scale.
It's because of this track record that I approached Dahl's new Miramax release ROUNDERS with a certain amount of hesitation. I'd read the script and enjoyed it, but wasn't sure Dahl was the right man for the job. He has proven me delightfully wrong, though, by crafting a supremely entertaining and confident film that leaves his earlier genre work in the dust.
If I had to try and tie this film to a conventional genre, it's ostensibly a crime picture. Or a buddy picture. Or an anti-buddy picture. Or maybe it's a glimpse inside the underworld. Or maybe it's somehow all of these things at once.
But wait, Moriarty! You just ripped CLAY PIGEONS for mixing and matching. How can you praise ROUNDERS for doing the exact same thing? First, I can do anything I want. I'm an Evil Genius, remember? More importantly, it's all about skill. Dahl shows a sure hand with pace and tone, always pulling exactly what's required out of each moment, never rushing, never forcing it. These people feel real. The story unfolds with skill and smarts. Above all else, ROUNDERS is every bit as honest as CLAY PIGEONS is phony.
You can credit a fair amount of that to the cast. Matt Damon, in his first starring role since GOOD WILL HUNTING, plays Mike, a law student who is paying his way through school by playing poker. This isn't nearly as risky as it sounds, though... not in the world where Mike lives. He's a pro, able to read any table, any deck, any hand. At the film's open, he takes his total savings, $30,000 (or "three stacks of High Society," as he calls it) and buys into a high stakes game, trying to raise his stake for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Instead, he gets cleaned out completely by club owner and Russian gangster Teddy KGB, played with a delicious sense of sleaze and thuggishness by John Malkovich.
Devastated, Mike quits the life and dedicates himself to school. Knish, played by John Turturro, rents Mike a vending machine supply truck to use so that Mike can earn an honest living. This seems particularly important to Mike's live-in girlfriend, played by Gretchen Mol. Mike is able to walk the straight and narrow until the release from prison of his best friend Worm.
Enter Edward Norton.
I really can't say enough good about this guy. He is magnetic raw energy from the moment he appears onscreen. Some actors are good at playing scummy. Norton vanishes into it. It's no contest between law school and the life after Norton shows up, and Dahl and his writers thankfully don't string us along. Of course Damon slips back into it. How could he not? He's got a gift. Not playing for him is like not flying for a bird. It is what he does, and Worm knows that. He manipulates Damon back into the life, taking full advantage of his friend in an effort to dig his own ass out of debt.
In some ways, I prefer the chemistry between Damon and Norton to the chemistry that real-life friends Damon and Affleck had in GOOD WILL HUNTING. Part of it is the slippery tension between the two of them. There's trust, there's love, but there's danger, too, and that's what makes it fun. These two should definitely work together again if the right project comes along.
The rest of the supporting cast is very good. Malkovich, as mentioned, is a standout. Turturro has one great, deeply human scene. Martin Landau, as a judge who serves as both mentor and friend to Damon, gives the movie its soul. He manages to invest his ten minutes of screentime with real weight. Even Famke Jannsen makes an impression in a small role.
If there is a weak link here, it's Gretchen Mol. Maybe you've seen her on the cover of the new VANITY FAIR. She's cute as hell. She's also being hyped as the next big thing. Based on her work here, I'm guessing that's all it is -- hype. She does absolutely nothing here that any other cute actress couldn't do. Maybe she's make more of an impression as Leo DiCaprio's girlfriend in Woody Allen's CELEBRITY. If not, this flavor of the month may turn out to be pure vanilla.
Anyway, Harry, the software's all installed, and there's already a SF/buddy cop/DIE HARD in a swimming pool script with cute kids and a talking gorilla spitting out of the printer. I've got one of my henchmen dialing my agent already. I smell money on the wind, my man. With that in mind...
"Moriarty" out.
