PERSONAL FOUL
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1987 Jeff Meyer
Seen at the Seattle Film Festival: PERSONAL FOUL (USA, 1987) Director/Writer: Ted Lichtenhaeld Cast: David Morse, Adam Arkin, Susan Wheeler Duff, F. William Parker
This is a film that I was inclined to like at the outset: the two main characters had been involved with the fine television drama ST. ELSEWHERE for several years, and I had understood that the director/screenwriter had written for the show on occasion also. I am sorry to report that the results were not up to my expectations, nor were they satisfactory. If I had to list a reason why.... but that would be getting ahead of myself; besides, it's not immediately clear, as there are so many problems with the film.
Adam Arkin plays a grade-school teacher who is sardonic, cynical, and somewhat abrasive, but a good teacher. He spends his lunches playing basketball by himself on a nearby court. One day, he meets a drifter (David Morse, who plays Jack Morrison on ST. ELSEWHERE) in the park, and inveigles him in a game of one-on-one basketball. Morse turns out to be good, and a friendship slowly develops between the two, as their respective professions progress on the screen--Arkin's teaching, and Morse's selling of paper flowers to passing motorists. So far, my major complaint would be the lack of dialogue, and the constant intrusion of the musical soundtrack. Good music to be sure, but it doesn't replace the dialogue for setting the mood or telling the story--it makes the film somewhat minimalistic, a technique I rarely admire.
Suddenly their friendship is interrupted by Morse's introduction to a fellow teacher of Arkin's, a woman Arkin has long admired from afar, but it too reticent to approach. It appears that she begins to admire Morse (who enjoys here attentions, but isn't sure what to do about it--she doesn't realize that he is a drifter, and knows nothing about his past), and this causes friction between Arkin and almost everyone else.
Until then, I had only a vague dissatisfaction with the film. The conclusion is where it begins to evolve into a full-fledged failure. The woman, at least to me, appeared to be fairly shallow; I didn't realize how shallow until her final scene with Arkin, where she reveals that she has been trying to make Arkin jealous by her attentions to Morse. Somehow, this is made to appear as if it is Arkin's fault, and it is left with him feeling somehow victorious that he's gotten such a find of girlfriend. Frankly, dropping her on the spot would have seemed the most civilized action Arkin could make; punching her in the mouth not the least. After this, the childish confrontation between Morse and Arkin at the end seems almost natural.
If I had to summarize a major gripe, it's that this is a story spread too thin, that creates semi-likable characters at the outset, and then suddenly jerks them into being 16-year-olds at the last moment. It might be true-to-life with some people; but that doesn't mean *I* have to like it. I don't. Grade: F. Avoid.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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