By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Jason Behr | Krysten Ritter | Lucy Gordon | Mike Landry | Money Mazur
Starring: Jason Behr | Krysten Ritter | Lucy Gordon | Mike Landry | Money Mazur
Country: united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 92
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037090/
Jason says: “THE LAST INTERNATIONAL PLAYBOY was known as FROST during its time on the festival circuit, and I wholeheartedly support the name change, both because the longer title is a lot more interesting and because it downplays the fact that the filmmakers actually named a main character Jack Frost. This was likely done by the marketing department – even though the title appears in the film, it’s not interesting there; it sounds just as generic as everything else.
“The title character (Jason Behr) is Jack Frost; he’s the thirty-ish remnant of a wealthy family who wrote a well-received novel seven years ago and hasn’t done much since. He’s still carrying a torch for his editor, Carolina (Monet Mazur), who has been his best friend since they were kids; that’s awkward because she’s just told him that she’s marrying Russell (Rob Bogue) in six months. Of course, it’s not like that torch has prevented him from seeing other women; he’s able to round up a bunch of cutely-named blonde models when his friend Scotch (Mike Landry) asks, so that he can better look the part for a writer doing an article on ‘the last international playboy.’ The writer, Kate Hardwick (Lucy Gordon), winds up more interested in Frost, and she’s not alone: Beautiful trainwreck Ozzy (Krysten Ritter) insists he’s going to marry her, and 11-year-old Sophie (India Ennenga) latches onto him because he’s always around their apartment building when her parents are working.
“There is not a single character in this movie that you have not seen before, likely in a more interesting variation. Jack is wealthy but still basically a decent guy, Scotch is kind of a loser (is there any doubt that he was the boorish legacy member of his fraternity in college?), Carolina is nice but impatient, Ozzy is loud, Sophie has a precocious understanding of adult psychology. Their issues aren’t particularly timely or ingeniously creative. They don’t even talk in an interesting way, either in terms of unlikely wit or musical vulgarity (Ozzy and Scotch try, but it’s just kind of sad). Even songs that flat out tell the audience what to think are a step up from the plainness on display; this movie is about as whitebread as dramas about the idle rich get, and that is pretty darn vapid.
“Part of the trouble may be casting Jason Behr in the title role. He still looks like he should be playing teenagers, even with the permanent five o’clock shadow he’s been sporting since at least Dragon Wars and claims he’s getting too old for this. To be fair, there’s not a whole lot he can do; the screenplay seems to be very careful to make sure that we like Jack from the start. He’s too nice and obviously good-intentioned, even though there really should be something creepy about how he hangs around with an 11-year-old (non-related) girl and won’t accept reality when it comes to his ex. And somewhere between Behr and co-writer/director Steve Clark, the audience is getting pounded on the head with his drinking – look, he’s on the same path as Ozzy, just not as fast!
“Speaking of Ozzy, I’d like to see Krysten Ritter in a larger role sometime. She’s specialized in parts like Ozzy – unconventionally pretty (for the movies, at least), overeager girls who don’t fit in with the more practiced beauties around them – and initially, this doesn’t look like one of her best: As wooden as much of the cast is, she’s overdoing it, though I appreciated the energy. She shows us that there’s more to her during a ‘girls getting ready to go out’ montage, though, and darn if she didn’t actually make me feel something later on, when no-one else was managing it. India Ennenga does actually come close, though her character is too obviously the tiny adult to Frost’s overgrown teenager; Mike Landry’s got a character who is supposed to be a loser, and he does that well enough that it’s kind of hard to look past the boorishness. Neither Monet Mazur or Lucy Gordon really sparks with Behr, though, and it feels like one of them really should have.
“To give credit where credit’s due, Clark seems to be OK until it comes time to have people speak – wordless scenes are generally fairly nice, but the dialog is almost aggressively banal, and he doesn’t seem to be able to coax a good delivery from his actors. He also gives us no hook into this privileged world, just seeming to assume that wealthy people in exclusive circles are interesting, especially if they’re writers. He also saddles the film with a very soft conclusion. I can get not wanting to be overdramatic, but give us something!
“It’s not to be, unfortunately. Maybe that title change wasn’t such a great idea after all; it holds out hope that the audience will get something juicy when if fact it’s all too low-key. 2 cats
“Seen 2 June 2009 at Landmark Kendall Square #7 (first-run)”