MILWAUKEE, MINNESOTA

I'm always a sucker for a guy in an orange snowsuit with tears in his eyes.

Every time I hear about Troy Garity being an actor, I cynically think, "Yeah right, then why isn't he famous? Why haven't we ever seen him in anything? If being Jane Fonda's son isn't enough for Hollywood, he must really stink." After watching Milwaukee, Minnesota the question remains—why isn't he famous? This guy can act, and he's not half bad to look at!

Milwaukee, Minnesota is the story of Albert Burroughs (Garity), a developmentally disabled man who must care for himself after his mother is run down while crossing the street. For the first time in his life, Albert has no one to turn to for guidance, and it seems at first that he has been so sheltered that he won't be able to cope. The owner of the copy store where Albert used to work (Bruce Dern) is willing to help, but Albert's mother fed him all sorts of conflicting information about the man. Unsure of who to trust, Albert finds himself in the clutches of opportunistic grifters.

You see, Albert is an accomplished ice fisherman, and his prize winnings are no secret. Spotting the newspaper clippings about Albert, a young woman named Tuey (Alison Folland) sets her sights on his money. She woos him with kindness, and claims to be a reporter from Time magazine. He takes her fishing, and she interviews him for her "article". Her brother, Stan, is played by none other than Hank Stites—it's Pumpkin from Pumpkin! He's a hypochondriac who's convinced there's something wrong with his testicles, so they tell Albert he's got "ball cancer" (can you beat it?!) but can't afford chemotherapy.

While Tuey and Stan are working their scam, Jerry James (Randy Quaid) rolls into town. He sells shirts out of a garbage bag, and claims to be Albert's real dad. He promises to take Albert to live with him in Chicago, but spends an awful lot of time rifling through the house. Poor Albert isn't sure what to make of all this. "Last week I had a mom," he says, "Now I have a weird dad who smells funny and snoops." Awww!

Albert really is adorable, though he seems to have been derived from Rain Man, and looks strikingly like a young Dustin Hoffman. That's okay—we'll never get tired of Rain Man! Plus he has this neat hair-smoothing maneuver like the Fonz, and he's quite emotive. I'm always a sucker for a guy in an orange snowsuit with tears in his eyes.

As the story progresses, there are several unexpected twists, turning the movie into more of a thriller than a Northern Exposure-style slice of life. All the while you're worrying about Albert, but he's smarter than anyone thinks. The ending comes as a pleasantly satisfying finale to a poignant and entertaining little film.

DVD NOTES

The DVD comes complete with commentary by director Allen Mindel and Troy Garity (hurray!), the usual theatrical trailer stuff, and an interview with Allen Mindel about the making of Milwaukee, Minnesota that all but makes your head swim. Looking crazy-eyed and talking a mile a minute, he explains how everything from pottery to reading Somerset Maugham led to the making of the film. At times you can see where the interview was spliced, undoubtedly because Mr. Mindel went off a wild tangent. No lack of enthusiasm in that guy!