| PUNCH |
 2002 - CanadaDirector:
Guy Bennett - Reviewed by Vickie
And I truly believed that rule until I saw this unusual Canadian drama. See, I was ready to pack up and leave at about minute 20. Here's why: the film's main character is violent, troubled 17-year-old Ariel (Sonja Bennett), who solves problems with her fists and is so irritating, grating and hateful—and who SCREEEEECHES all her dialogue—that I thought, "There is NO way I can sit through another hour of this!" She *looked* like she was acting (badly), and I could almost see the stage directions floating above her head as she went through her paces onscreen. "Ariel shoots her father a mean look... Ariel storms out... Ariel looks in the mirror and wonders why Vickie is putting her sweater on and walking out of the theater..." Nevermind her charming scene "seducing" a classmate by sprawling, bottomless (hello, here are my bits and pieces!) on her father's bed and demanding to be, ahem, serviced. Put your pants on, please, and go away. I could NOT stand her. Which, I suppose, might have been the point of the character—but risking audience defection probably isn't as far as writer-director Guy Bennett (who, I think, is the actress's brother?) should have pushed the tolerance envelope. At any rate, around minute 21 of the film, there was a revelation in the form of actress Meredith McGeachie, who was SUCH a welcome relief. She was great! Natural, engaging, likable, cool. Her character, Julie, is a topless female boxer with an unbeaten record and a sister who was clocked by the aforementioned teenage brat. The details of the rest of the plot aren't really important—Julie sets out to vindicate her sister's beating by threatening Ariel—because what matters is that Meredith McGeachie was the reason I stayed. I hope she was compensated accordingly for being the saving grace of the film. Were it not for her performance and its appeal, I would have walked. The story, as a whole, has a few solid moments. Some choice dialogue and interesting character developments here and there. McGeachie (God bless her!) is, as I said, excellent, as is Vincent Gale, who plays a small supporting role as bartender Irwin. But really, as for the rest of it: they should have lost every other actor in this movie and recast the parts. There was zero chemistry or believable interaction between any of them—especially between Michael Riley (who played Ariel's father) and Sonja Bennett. Again, it looked like everyone was forcing the scenes and that they all met about five minutes before the cameras started rolling. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure there are folks who loved it from fade in to fade out. The film isn't redeemed entirely by Meredith McGeachie—that's a task too monumental even for her talents!—but I shudder to think of how truly awful it would have been without her. |
|
Agree? Disagree? Go to the Forum! | Back to Currently Playing | Back to Toronto 2002 |
|
Home
| Currently Playing | For
Rent | Video Obsession ©2002 Moviepie e-mail us |
You know, I used to have a rule that any bad film that was bad 30
minutes in wouldn't get better by the end. Usually, the acknowledgement
of that rule would result in me heaving a sigh and heading out of a
theater to cut my losses before any more of my life was sucked away.
