By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Ari Graynor | Bebe Neuwirth | Griffin Dunne | Jr. | Michael Keaton | Robert Downey
Country: united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 94
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425055/
Michael says: “This quirky film is reminiscent one of production team Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson’s earlier collaborations, AFTER HOURS. Director Hoffman takes a darkly humorous look at the world of theater and the passion of the Boston Red Sox fan. Michael Keaton plays Nicky Rogan, a successful playwright whose latest work is premiering on the same night that his beloved Red Sox are playing the Mets in the World Series, 1986. Historically, we know the Sox didn’t win the Series in ’86, but for Rogan, possibility is still hanging in the air before him. To complicate matters, Steven Schwimmer, a notorious NYT theatre critic is scheduled to review Rogan’s play. Schwimmer has earned a reputation of destroying playwright’s careers with his brilliant yet devastating reviews. Rogan spends his day becoming increasingly agitated about the future of this important play, as well as cynical about the fate of his beloved Sox. An impending divorce and the disappointment of his college-aged daughter seem like secondary concerns to him.
Director Michael Hoffman (SOAPDISH; A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM) follows Don DeLillo’s twisted yet almost poetic script through a variety of turns before coming together in a powerful conclusion. Yo La Tengo provides some terrific music for this singularly original script. While Hoffman veers slightly in various points, the finished product is thought-provoking and fun. 3 ½ cats”
Chris says: “After years of semi-obscurity, Michael Keaton attempts a Jeff Daniels-like comeback in this scrappy, low-budget indie; coincidentally, like THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, the setting is also 1986 New York. On the night of the fated Game 6 of the World Series between the Red Sox and the Mets, Nicky Rogan (Keaton), a ex-cabbie turned successful playright (and a lifelong Sox fan) is dreading the reception his latest Broadway opus will receive from feared enigmatic phantom critic Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey Jr. at his quirkiest). Along with fine support from Griffin Dunne (as a sardonic fellow playwright whose career was derailed by Schwimmer’s scathing reviews) and a brief, fabulous cameo from Catherine O’Hara as Nicky’s wife, an alternately wiry and world-weary Keaton makes us remember why he was worth paying attention to for the first time in ages. Although Michael Hoffman’s film occasionally drags and feels like a made-for-cable movie, it benefits from an affable, efficient first screenplay from novelist Don DeLillo, savoring the perils of fandom and consequence with grace. 3.5 cats”