By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Curtiss Clayton
Starring: Aaron Standford | Agnes Bruckner | Bill Pullman | Sandra Oh
Country: united_states
Year: 2004
Running time: 100
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363029/combined
Chris says: “In this modern-day take on Verdi’s 16th century opera ‘Rigoletto.’ Rick O’Lette (Bill Pullman) is a rotten jerk of a corporate middle manager. He has an even more obnoxious boss half his age (Aaron Stanford) who unknowingly pursues Rick’s teenaged daughter, Eve (Agnes Bruckner) on an X-rated Web chat room. In the film’s opening sequence, Rick thoroughly humiliates Michelle, (Sandra Oh) a young woman applying for a job. She curses him, and he eventually gets the karmic retribution he deserves (sort of).
“With a snarky, acerbic screenplay written by Daniel ‘Lemony Snicket’ Handler, RICK is wildly uneven. I’d argue that Sandra Oh is even better here than she was in SIDEWAYS, even though she disappears after the first ten minutes. Pullman has been more convincing elsewhere (see ZERO EFFECT), but some of his scenes with Bruckner are so surprisingly touching and refreshingly subdued that by the film’s tragic end, you almost believe Rick’s capable of rehabilitation–almost. 3 cats”
Bruce says: “All of the lead actors in this film have turned in wonderful performances in prior films: Bill Pullman, THE LAST SEDUCTION; Aaron Stanford, TADPOLE; Agnes Bruckner, BLUE CAR and HOME ROOM; Dylan Baker, HAPPINESS, ROAD
TO PERDITION, and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM; and Sandra Oh, WILBY WONDERFUL, SIDEWAYS, and LAST NIGHT. That adds up to a lot of talent practically all of which is squandered on this retelling of Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto,’ itself a retelling of Victor Hugo’s Le Roi S’Amuse.
“Right from the start of RICK I knew trouble was brewing, not for Rick O’Lette (Pullman) but for the film itself. Rigoletto was a buffoon, a paid court jester; Rick is an asshole. There is a big difference. Yes Rick does act the role of a fool when desperately trying to connect with his much younger boss, predictably named Duke (Aaron Stanford). However, those moments are manic and pathetic, not clever.
“When Rigoletto insults the irate and grieving father of a young maiden the Duke has seduced, the man places a curse on him. In the film, Michelle (Oh) has come to O’Lette for a job interview. O’Lette is hung over, edgy and impatient. The interview is a disaster. O’Lette belittles Michelle and hurls racial insults at her. He is not doing this for the benefit of anyone’s amusement, he is simply happy to be making someone miserable. Later that day, Rick has a run-in with Michelle in a bar where she is serving drinks and he gets her fired. In parting she hurls a curse at him.
“Both Rigoletto and O’Lette are widowers raising daughters who are in their teen years and the fates of the two daughters are the subjects of the curses. To move the plot along in the film, an old college friend of Rick (Dylan Baker) pops by to leave a business card. The card reads Buck – My Own Company. Buck lets Rick know that he is a paid killer and is available should Rick require his services. When Rick discovers his beloved daughter is having cybersex with Duke, he dials Buck’s number.
“Thus the film follows the opera quite faithfully. The daughters are both murdered by the very assassins their own fathers had hired to kill the predatory men that were deflowering them. To fill in space between the curse and the ensuing tragedy, the opera has two showcase arias ‘La Donna è mobile’ (technically heard both before and after the curse) and ‘Cara Nome’ plus the magnificent quartet in the final act, all of which are legendary in the opera world. The film has not one moment worthy of remembrance.
“The actors all seemed to be wishing they were in another film… or perhaps that was just me projecting. 1 cat”