Reel Critics

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

‘Moon’ will make you cringe and laugh

Without the benefit of narcotics, Andy Kaufman was the least predictable

comedian on ‘70s network television. Kaufman’s numerous personas made

audiences either laugh or cringe, like a good Roger Corman horror film.

“Man on the Moon” award-winning director Milos Forman’s loving tribute to

the late comic will make you both cringe and laugh, but just like a

Kaufman stunt, it’s all intentional.The film, written by Scott Alexander

and Larry Karaszewski (“Ed Wood” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt”),

begins with Kaufman (beautifully played by Jim Carrey) as a troublesome

kid in his room, refusing to go out and play, preferring to host his own

TV variety program for the cameras he believed were hidden in his bedroom

walls.

His material was inspired by shabby nightclub and lounge acts. He

understood that a live performance is rarely more fascinating that when

it is going wrong.The movie details Kaufman’s ascent from bombing at

coffeehouses to polishing the art of antagonizing the audience; from his

numerous “Saturday Night Live” duties to his role of Latka Gravas on

“Taxi”; from his various live TV stunts including being Intergender

Wrestling Champion of the World to his lounge-singer alter ego, the great

Tony Clifton.

Joining Carrey and Forman along for the ride are Danny DeVito as

Kaufman’s agent George Shapiro, Paul Giamatti as Kaufman’s writing

partner Bob Zmuda, and Courtney Love as his girlfriend Lynne Marguiles.

Forman’s direction on displaying the circus-like atmosphere of their

intertwined lives glides along on the strength of Carrey’s performance.

The film often mirrors Kaufman’s high-flying act. Like Kaufman’s act,

when the film and Kaufman’s act are funny, they both work. However, when

Kaufman’s act was not funny, the movie is painful to watch. In a way, the

film remains true to Kaufman’s stubborn vision of a compulsive

entertainer who will deceive you, stage elaborate deceptions and hoaxes

all for the sake of one laugh, be it his own.The film, under the

direction of any lesser talent, would have turned the movie into a sweet

parable of a misunderstood guy. The movie leaves us with a mystery as to

who or what made Kaufman a great entertainer, and it should.

In traditional Hollywood biopics, there would be some Freudian or

Disney-esque ending to neatly explain everything you have seen or should

have thought about the subject. This movie challenges you to believe that

nothing could have explained Andy Kaufman. He was unique. If he had been

explicable, no one would have wanted to make a movie about him, unless of

course you’re Chris Columbus. * ROB OROZCO, 29, is an attorney who lives

in Newport Beach with his wife and two cats.

Damon too wholesome to play Ripley

In “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Anthony Minghella’s first film since “The

English Patient,” we again get classy production values and very talented

actors, but a movie that is curiously uninvolving.

The reason for this could be the casting. Novelist Patricia Highsmith’s

Tom Ripley is described as a completely amoral, evil man with a gift for

deceit. This same story was done in the ‘60s (“Purple Noon”) with French

star Alain Delon as the title character. Delon’s Ripley was a dangerous

opportunist who killed and schemed to get what he coveted.

As played here by Matt Damon, however, Ripley is too wholesome to be

taken seriously as a threat. He comes across as a nerdy, needy guy driven

to violence only after his insecurities are exposed.

Set in 1958, Ripley is mistaken for a Princeton classmate of wealthy

shipping heir Dickie Greenleaf, who left New York two years prior for a

hedonistic life in Mongibello, south of Naples. Dickie’s father offers to

pay Ripley $1,000 if he’ll go to Italy and convince the son to come home.

Naturally, he accepts.

Once in Italy, he immediately ingratiates himself to Greenleaf and his

lovely girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Dickie is like a kid with a

new toy, introducing Ripley to sailing, jazz clubs and the perfect

martini. Soon he has moved into Greenleaf’s house, is wearing his clothes

and living off the Greenleaf fortune.

Greenleaf is soon bored and plans to move north. This send Ripley into a

panic, for he has fallen in love with this new life and also with

Greenleaf. About an hour into the movie, everything changes with one

shocking act of violence.

The supporting cast of Paltrow, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cate

Blanchett are all good, but it is Jude Law who steals the show as

Greenleaf. And Blanchett gets the film’s best line, “Rich people like us,

who despise money, only like to associate with other rich people who also

despise money.”

At nearly two and a half hours, you certainly get your money’s worth for

this movie. But somehow, I felt cheated. Maybe the inevitable, low-budget

sequel will be better -- “Deuce Ripley, Male Gigolo”??* SUSANNE PEREZ,

45, lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial

services company.

Damon shines in ‘Mr. Ripley’

Changes of personality and character in midscene demands a command of

self and medium that few achieve. Matt Damon has already proven himself a

formidable actor (“Good Will Hunting,” others) and his performance in

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” will further enhance his reputation.

Damon couples a natural (as well as cultivated) charisma with

interpretive skills that give a force to his roles ranging form hilarious

to scary to threatening. As Tom Ridley, he is an engaging and unsettling

person precipitated into a macabre course of action by the simple act of

borrowing a jacket. The jacket sports a Princeton insignia, which starts

a series of events leading to a harrowing finale.

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” is not a pretty story, but it is an engrossing

one. The period is the late ‘50s. Ripley lives in a dark, cluttered

basement in New York, scraping out a living by playing the piano at

random events and convinced he’s a nobody consigned to living in a

basement and he’ll never be anything but a nobody.Then, voila! He borrows

the jacket of a friend to make the right appearance at an affair. Through

a fluke he becomes acquainted with Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), a

shipyard tycoon whose son, Dickie (Jude Law), has gone to Italy with

hisgirlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), and won’t come home. Greenleaf

offers this presumably Princetonian classmate a trip to Europe. He will

foot all expenses and pay Ripley $1,000 if the well-mannered Ripley will

bring the heir home to go to work in the business.

Dazzled by the scope of the opportunity, but as quick-witted (and

manipulative and opportunistic) as they come, Ripley accepts with

becoming but not obsequious sincerity. So he’s off to Italy, to Rome and

then to the quaint seaport of Mongi, where he carefully encounters

Greenleaf. Ripley adroitly fits himself into this lifestyle of the effete

circle -- as said, he’s a quick study -- and wins acceptance.

When asked early on by Greenleaf about himself, Ripley replies he’s a

liar, a forger and does impersonations. Said with insouciance, Marge and

Dickie laugh with him. It’s a portent that’s easily missed, but the bulk

of the movie proves all three true. And more!

Ultimately, Dickie tires of him, tires of all his sycophants, and attacks

Ripley while the two are out boating, precipitating in Ripley an

unexpected and murderous rage. From there to the final shot, Ridley takes

all steps necessary to protect himself. It’s logical, it’s clever and

it’s chilling, but the viewer won’t want to walk out on it.

Damon works the material brilliantly. Running a close second is Jude Law

as Dickie. The entire cast is good, both Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate

Blanchett adding tension and glamour. Special notice must be made of

Philip Seymour Hoffman, outstanding as the offensive Freddy.

The cinematography combines sophisticated modern-day shots with the

traditionally beautiful and is most effective in creating mood, tempo and

atmosphere. And the variety and scope of the musical selections is

infectious. They include some spectacular jazz numbers, some favorites of

the period and some classical and were obviously carefully selected,

placed and paced by Anthony Minghella, director of “The English Patient.”

An adaptation by Minghella of Patricia Highsmith’s dark and lush

psychological thriller (actually several books), “The Talented Mr.

Ripley” was meticulously edited by Academy Award-winner Walter Murch, who

keeps tensions high. Audiences will be gripped every minute by this film,

but they will leave feeling uneasy.* ELEANORE HUMPHREY, “over 65,” lives

in Costa Mesa and is a political junkie involved with several city

committees.