| THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE |
 2003
- USA
Director: Alan Parker - Reviewed by Linda
Meet university professor David Gale (Kevin Spacey). In prison in Texas for the rape and murder of his professional collegue and anti-death penalty cohort Constance (Laura Linney), he has only a few days until he is put to death for the crime. Never having spoke before about the events, Gale handpicks journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) for an exclusive three-day interview so he can finally say his piece. David Gale recounts his life and the events leading up to Constance's murder, and it is up to investigative reporter Bitsey to fill in the pieces and find out if Gale was framed, or if he is indeed guilty of murdering his colleague and friend. The story doesn't sound so bad in print, but where do I begin? Alan Parker's direction is wooden and uncreative, despite some bizarre attempts to modernize his style (like annoying transition shots of words spinning across the screen, like "conviction" and "murder"... get it?). The script is lame, full of thriller cliches and stupid plot holes (like in a TV debate with the Texas governor, Gale is put on the spot and can't support the key point of his anti-death penalty argument). Poor Kate Winslet is not only saddled with the ridiculous and distracting name of "Bitsey" fer cryin' out loud, but she is forced to play a shallowly-written character with the depth of a B-grade Nancy Drew, and she has to haul along a sidekick intern reporter who serves no dramatic purpose whatsoever. There's even a Sinister Opera-Listenin'-Cowboy that lurks in the shadows and menacingly tailgates the reporters in his backwoods-trash truck. Oooo... scary. The only person that survives this film with any dignity intact is Laura Linney. At first, her character of Constance, the frumpy and sexless professor, is as ridiculously one-dimensional as all the rest. But suddenly, about halfway through the film (or halfway through the flashbacks, as it were), Linney seems to gradually mold Constance into an interesting, sympathetic, and mercifully imperfect character, out of sheer force of will. Unfortunately for us, and for her I suppose, she's the murder victim. As I writhed through the bulk of this film, it was a slight surprise to find that the twist at the very end of the film *almost* made for an interesting 10 minutes or so. I say "almost" because at that point, I really didn't care a hoot how the film ended, as long as it ended soon. The payoff just wasn't worth the wait. My conclusion: In the post-film Q&A session, I found that Kevin Spacey is interesting and charming in person, and he gamely fielded questions from the audience for a solid hour. But showing up and being a good guy unfortunately doesn't make your movie good by default. The truth is, The Life of David Gale not only sucks, but it blows as well. [Read Eric's positive review of The Life of David Gale.] |
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About 20 minutes into the special screening of The Life of David Gale, I was so simultaneously bored and restless that my mind wandered. I found myself playing mental word games for fun, as I sometimes am apt to do. Suddenly, I came to the realization that in the wonderous English language when you say something "sucks" or something "blows," it means the same thing! Isn't that great? It made me smile to myself for a couple minutes—until I came back to reality and discovered that the movie wasn't even half over, and I'd have to sit through the rest of this plodding piece of work in order to be treated with the Q&A with Kevin Spacey.
