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Also this issue: Yachta Yachta Yachta His Cheatin' Art |
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May 9-15, 2002
movie shorts
THE NEW GUY
What is funny about a black guy in prison helping a white civilian get over? There must be something, but somehow it missed getting into The New Guy, in which inmate Eddie Griffin instructs “white trashy” high school loser DJ Qualls (Road Trip) in the art of survival. Previously known as Broke-Dick, Qualls absorbs Griffin’s lessons, goes to a new school “revamped,” and seduces the beautiful cheerleader (Eliza Dushku), as well as various cool kids, jocks, and bullies. Everyone (except Dushku’s angry ex-) takes Qualls’ cue and starts treating the geeks well. This would be a happy ending, except you’re left wondering just why Lyle Lovett, Jermaine Dupri, Kool Mo Dee, Henry Rollins, Vanilla Ice, Tommy Lee, Gene Simmons and Tony Hawk all signed on for small roles in this confused, vaguely episodic, not-so-funny movie. It falls somewhere between tepid parody (of Braveheart and any number of high school movies) and egregious gross-out (director Ed Decter was one of the many writers on There’s Something About Mary). --Cindy Fuchs (AMC Andorra; AMC Orleans; UA Cheltenham)
RAIN
Kiwi Christine Jeffs’ dour debut recalls Jane Campion without the visual inspiration, which is to say that you get knocked on the head and you don’t even get to see stars. Of the film’s troubled family, mom’s a drunk and a cheat, dad’s got no spine, and little sis is poised on the brink of womanhood, which means she’s scolding her mother for drinking when she’s not sneaking a sip herself. (Little bro is, as little bros always are, just cute.) Enter the mysterious stranger, who in this case owns a boat and shuns upper-body clothing, reason enough for mom to go off the reservation. Rain is, of course, sensitive as all hell, but its self-serious sex ’n’ death mixture (including some astonishingly hokey last-minute juxtaposition that just screams “This movie came from a bad novel”) is far less thought-provoking than we’re presumably supposed to think. --Sam Adams (Ritz Five; Ritz 16)
