The Gingerbread Man (1998)
Director: Robert Altman Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey Jr., Daryl Hannah, Robert Duvall, Tom Berenger, Famke Janssen Screenplay: Al Hayes, Robert Altman, John Grisham Producers: Jeremy Tannenbaum Runtime: 112 min. US Distribution: PolyGram Rated R: violence, language, sex
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
The trailers for The Gingerbread Man boast that it's a film based on a story by John Grisham, devised specifically for the big screen. After seeing the picture, I found that this statement essentially means that it's a film about a Southern lawyer in a situation that doesn't require him to use his skills as a lawyer. Directed by the always-experimental Robert Altman and starring the great Kenneth Branagh, I expected a lot from this film. What I got was a professional execution of a cliched and only semi-amusing script; even worse, the conclusion provides more questions than answers. Unfortunately, The Gingerbread Man comes down to little more than cheap shocks and Actors Faking Accents.
Branagh is superb in the main role, featuring another flawless accent completely dissimilar from his native British inflection. He plays Rick Magruder, a successful lawyer in Georgia. The most prominent background information we get on him is that his ex-wife, Leeanne (Famke Janssen), hates him; and, because of a bitter custody battle, he only gets to see his kids once a week. The film opens with Rick meeting a strange woman in a parking lot during a rain storm. Her name is Mallory Doss (Embeth Davidtz), and her car has been stolen by her crazy father, Dixon.
Naturally, the only thing Rick can do is take her home and seduce her (she makes it really easy for him by taking off all her clothes to have a crying fit). The plot thickens when it turns out her father, played by Robert Duvall, is terrorizing her by hanging her cat, among other things. Rick takes the case to court, at which point Dixon is sent to a mental institution. Not long after this, Dixon's destitute pals break him out, and we are led to believe that he not only continues his harassment of Mallory, but that his focus also falls onto Rick's children.
There's a lot more to the story, but the last half hour or so is reserved for unlikely plot twists, so I'll let you experience those for yourself. The problem with the story, I noticed, is that it's hard to tell where it's going for at least an hour into it. The threat of Dixon never seemed threatening, so I was constantly wondering what all these people were so incredibly worried about. Then, just when it seems that Rick is as useless a main character as I've ever seen, his kids are in danger, and he must fight against the police and his ex-wife to keep them safe.
The Gingerbread Man, as I said, relies on a story that is, for the most part, composed of numerous plot devices and scenes that we've seen in so many other films of the mystery and thriller genres. Rick is a lawyer, but he doesn't need to be: his only source of motivation is his children. (Although the fact that he is a lawyer provides for one particularly interesting scene in which he can't get help in a police station because all the police men know he's a lawyer and hate him for it.) A lot of the film is suspenseful, but too much of it hinges on cheap thrills (yes, you will see a cat knock over a glass bottle to create a sudden loud noise and scare the characters).
Then, of course, we have the supporting characters, which is a vast assortment of Actors Faking Accents. Davidtz is a good actress, and she's good here in her quiet, subtle way. Robert Downey, Jr., whose Southern accent is about as thick and exaggerated as any I've ever heard, is fun to watch as Rick's detached partner. Duvall has all of two lines in the film, but still has fun with his role of the token psycho. Darryl Hannah plays Rick's secretary, and is almost completely unrecognizable with the accent, dark hair, and glasses. In fact, there are so many Actors Faking Accents that I was distracted in every scene because I know all these actors are faking these accents. I wish the film would have taken place somewhere other than the south, because then everyone could have just spoken normally.
But that just points out another flaw of this film: the setting has no impact on the story. The characters don't, either. Rick never solves anything because of his ingenuity or intelligence (he's even forced into a pointless climactic battle in a rain storm on a catwalk with Tom Berenger). None of the characters are particularly well-drawn, though they are interesting enough to have kept my attention. Thrillers are most effective when they rely on the characters to solve the problems that the film offers. The Gingerbread Man features a bunch of one-dimensional people doing things that the story requires them to do.
But, it's not all bad. Altman does a great job with the atmosphere, and the fact that the film takes place almost entirely during a hurricane is a nice touch for underlying tension and suspense. The film is adequately dark, and the music is subtle enough that it adds mood and color to the scenes. Not all of Altman's choices are great, though: he often makes it difficult to see (even Seven wasn't this ridiculously dark), and I often found myself straining to pick up the image.
I don't understand why The Gingerbread Man even needed to be a thriller with car chases and gunfire. This seems like it could have been an almost completely psychological thriller. For some reason, Altman and crew have put their hearts into a story that just isn't very interesting or even plausible. It might prove to be a worthwhile evening of entertainment for some, because it is a well-crafted picture. But I was hoping for a lot more than just a bunch of Actors Faking Accents.
**1/2 out of **** (6/10, C+)
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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