WestAct Reviews

The Devil's Advocate (1997)

Somewhere between brilliant and cheap lies The Devil's Advocate.

[16 April 2000]

The Devil's Advocate has a number of things going for it. Keanu Reeves does surprisingly well at not offending in his lead role here. Al Pacino makes it almost easy to like his character. Charlize Theron is absolutely stunning in her role, and milks the role of all its dramatic possibilities. The sets are beautiful, the movie is well-filmed, and the script is mostly intricate and involving. The film mostly suffers from only a few minor problems, including some distractingly unnecessary nudity. What, then, is this film's biggest problem? Its ending! A cheaper, more insulting, and outright unfair ending has not existed in a recent movie as far as I'm concerned. The tension and drama in the film build, and it works on making its point, for over two hours, only to be completely derailed and ignored in the last five minutes. As a result, I cannot recommend this film to anyone... A movie that improves after a few poor opening minutes is still worthwhile, but a movie that has everything going for it, only to throw it away when it should have hit a home run, is without a doubt one of the seven deadly sins of filmmaking.

The Truman Show (1998)

Overrated, and only passably entertaining.

[5/10 · 15 April 2000]

The Truman Show is easily one of the most overrated movies of the 1990s. While the premise is excellent, and a number of the supporting performers (especially Laura Linney and Noah Emmerich) do well in their roles, in any star-oriented film, the final judge of the movie's quality must be the star. Jim Carrey ultimately fails to deliver. In yet another example of his unique, non-acting acting style, he manages to miss (or overshoot?) moments many other actors of lesser stature would hit dead on. What could have been a very powerful movie dealing with the pressures of life and the changes of aging is ultimately reduced to a hollow, meaningless study of its star. Since the material does not allow Jim Carrey to do that at which he truly excels--outrageous physical comedy--he looks and feels very stiff and very miscast. Watch the movie, if you can, for its interesting plot, sets, and supporting performances, but try to ignore Jim Carrey's non-performance.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Feels like it was written by two guys in their mid-twenties. Oh wait...

[5/10 · 15 April 2000]

Good Will Hunting is a very frustrating movie. It feels like it should be good, and I very much wanted it to be good, but it never quite reached that point. A movie with so much going for it--a good cast, a great setting, and an interest basic story--shouldn't be as simple-mindedly written as Good Will Hunting is. Hardly Oscar-worthy, the script plays more like a final assignment from a first year screenwriting class. Almost completely lacking in invention and subtlety, the script seems aimed toward the lowest common denominator of the age group that wrote it--in this case, early to mid-twenties. While the movie is not completely devoid of meaning or entertainment, there is so little of either one present here that the movie is only worth watching if you don't know there are a number of better and more mature ways the story could have been told.

Man on the Moon (1999)

A somewhat interesting failure with a miscast star.

[5/10 · 12 April 2000]

I went to see this movie knowing very little of Andy Kaufman, and I came out knowing little more. While structured in a semi-interesting way, the movie worked too hard to be entertaining and not hard enough at making Andy a believable person--it was impossible to get to know or like Andy. Whatever you thought going in was the only thing you could think when you left. Jim Carrey's performance seemed barely adequate for the task, and he was not able to cover up for his lack of acting ability here any more than in his previous big screen "triumph," The Truman Show. While the sequences involving the cast of Taxi reprising their roles from the show (with Danny DeVito, the producer and another actor in this movie, conspicuously absent), very little of the rest of the movie displayed the same life or energy. In the future, I hope filmmakers who would like to create biopics of complex (or perhaps misunderstood?) figures will take a lesson from the failures of Man on the Moon and make sure the movie reveals something about its subject that goes beyond common knowledge.

Providence (1999–2002)

A simplistic and touching lightweight drama.

[23 October 1999]

Providence does not bear the heavy weight that "good" hour-long dramas carry with them. As a result, it ends up being more profound and watchable than most of the rest put together. Each episode is often pastoral or simplistic, with very straightforward writing, acting, and presentation. But the actors are so capable, and the attitude so honest, that the people behind Providence are able to make every episode into a very touching--and often humorous--hour. While most hour-long dramas struggle to fill fifteen minutes of genuine story or emotion, Providence is bursting at the seams. It is one of the best hour-long dramas to come down the pike in a number of years.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

One of the funniest films of 1999.

[9/10 · 19 July 1999]

It seems as if everyone has had something to say about this movie, and given most of the comments I have read, I find myself wondering whether or not they actually watched it. Though this movie is liberally laced with profanity, it is so outrageous and over-the-top, I cannot understand how anyone could consider it offensive. In fact, I believe that if people looked beyond that and actually watched the movie, they would see what I saw: One of the funniest films of 1999. This is a great movie. In addition to some classic comedy, it has a great story, and a superb, Oscar-worthy soundtrack. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut should stand the test of time as the one movie anyone should watch if they want to write comic movies of their own. It really is that good.