THE ALARMIST
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Lions Gate Releasing Director: Evan Dunsky Writer: Evan Dunsky, play "Life During Wartime" by Keith Reddin Cast: Stanley Tucci, Kate Capshaw, David Arquette, Mary McCormack, Ryan Reynolds
"The Alarmist" is filled with characters who delight in mugging for the camera and in striking absurdist poses; and why not? The movie, which is based on a play by the imaginative writer Keith Reddin, is an absurdist comedy. Not that's it's far-out like something by Ionesco or Beckett. It's quite accessible. The first half is an absolute gem, but Even Dunky, who adapts the staged work for the screen, cannot sustain the momentum once the narrative turns serious, even tragic. He must be given credit for taking the risk: he precariously walks the fine line between waggery and woe in showing that life, despite its anguish, is well worth living, and manages to send up capitalist shibboleths without giving up the light touch. While the con game played here will bring to mind some treasures by David Mamet such as "The Spanish Prisoner" and "Glengarry Glen Ross," "The Alarmist" does not really have unique style like those major prizes. Its rewards are ample, however, making a trip to the movies a worthwhile one.
The con involved here does not involve selling a defective product or any sort of fly-by-night scheme. The commodity, a security alarm system, works well, but considering its price--which we do not unearth but which is apparently quite high--it requires some creative selling. What is being sold is not so much a security system for one-family homes as much as fear. If the clients can be persuaded that they need to install the alarm setup despite a steadily declining crime rate in the area, some hard sell is needed. That's just what is provided by Tommy Hudler (David Arquette), a naive young man being trained for the job by Heinrich Grigoris (Stanley Tucci), the leathery, cynical owner of the company. The comic highlight of the 93-minute story occurs near the beginning as Heinrich carries through a sale in the home office to a fearful woman, Sally (Mary McCormack), whose husband is deadly ill and who cries voluminously, protests the high cost of the system, but is persuaded to sign. When Tommy goes into the field, he proves to be an effective merchant indeed, but what he did not count on was falling instantly in love with an older woman, the widowed Gale Ancona (Kate Capshaw), who has a precocious teenaged son, Howard (Ryan Reynolds). The comic gives way to the cataclysmic as a double-murder leads Tommy to suspect his boss. After all, he has discovered that his mentor makes most of his income not on the product he sells but on the jewels and cash he burgles, burglaries which keep the neighborhood fearful and thereby increase sales.
The film, particularly during its initial, better half, sustains a theatrical feeling, with characters from widow Gale to Tommy to Tommy's father Bruce Hudler (Louis Arquette) adopt exaggerated facial expressions. In the staged work, which was performed in 1990 in New York prestigious off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club, ghosts appear on the platform including the phantom of the 16th Century Calvinist thinker, John Calvin. Concepts like sin and predesination were explored there but dispensed with in debut director Dunsky's filmed adaptation. Stanley Tucci continues to amaze us with his comic depth, striking clever poses in films like Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry" and especially in his role as a gourmet chef in one of the great indies of 1996, "Big Night." David Arquette is a convincing protege allowing Kate Capshaw--as the older woman--to get her groove back in a dazzling little love affair. Uneven that this movie may be, it conveys the humor and misery of life in a series of bright vignettes which, for the most part do work, but do not quite cohere. The movie is, on the whole, a worthy first incursion by Mr. Dunsky.
Rated R. Running time: 93 minutes. (C) Harvey Karten 1998
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