THHE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: Tamara Jenkins Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Keith Corrigan, David Krumholtz, Eli Marienthal, Jessica Walter, Rita Moreno, Carl Reiner
There are many reasons why I enjoyed "The Slums of Beverly Hills," but I think the aspect I admire the most is that it's poignant but never heavy-handed. So many autobiographical films make sure that there are many a funny moment, but then isolate those from the similarly isolated dramatic moments. It's as if the film would be the same if it just had someone enter the scene holding a sign that said "Now here's the dramatic part of the film." "The Slums of Beverly Hills" doesn't do that, and it's still poignant. It moves effortlessly from hysterical moments to more dramatic moments but never feels like it's overly organized.
But that's hardly the only good thing about this film. "The Slums of Beverly Hills" is a feverlishly entertaining film with a fresh take on that point in all of our lives when we begin to mature sexually and we're not quite sure what to make of it. We all go through that, though not all of us go through what Vivian Abramowitz, the lead character, goes through, and that's the sudden rack-dom thereof (read: she got her boobies). Nearly overnight, she has jumped from an A cup to a C cup, and in the film's opening scene, finds she's being given her first significant braissere.
Vivian is played by Natasha Lyonne, the wonderful young actress from Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You" (and, less significantly, "Krippendorf's Tribe," which she was actually very good in), who has wild red curly hair, and seems to be blessed with a face that is both in perpetual snarl and forever cuteness. She provides the voice and characterization of the film's writer and director, Tamara Jenkins, who no doubtedly had a similar experience back in her youth.
The film takes place in 1976, and we are introduced to Vivian and her family, headed by her 65-year old father, Murray (a priceless Alan Arkin), an unsuccessful used car salesman. Murray's not the greatest father, but he does indeed have a great love for them that's his big strong point. Vivian also has two brothers, one older one, Ben (David Krumholtz, who, I see, didn't have to change him hair style after doing "The Ice Storm" prior to this), a hilarious pothead/musical-freak who knows way too much useless information; and a younger one, Ricky (Eli Marienthal), who's just weird. Together they're a strange family, but their strangeness is their own, making them unique like every other family in the world.
Since Murray has so little money, they have to live in the lower rent areas of Beverly Hills (they stay for the schooling), and are constantly being awoken in the middle of the night so they can move to other places so they can avoid the rent. The film's main center happens when their cousin Rita (Marisa Tomei) hikes out to the West Coast from the East Coast so she stay with them instead of her tyrannical rich father, Mickey (Carl Reiner), who ends up supplying Murray with a monthly sum if he watches over her and causes her to try and get ahead in life.
So begins the rest of the film, as they live in a nice apartment, and Vivian begins to learn all about sex, not only from Rita, who introduces her to the enigma known as the vibrator (which launches a scene which is the best vibrator joke since "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex," and one other extremely poignant and hilarious scene), but also from a tennant she meets in one of her older apartments, Eliot (Kevin Corrigan), a marijuana dealer who piques her interest for awhile.
"Slums of Beverly Hills" is wonderfully organized so that it's not so organized, and as a result it comes off as a sometimes episodic remembrance of an important period that is often overlooked in autobiographical films. It's as if it were a modern-day version of Truffaut's "The 400 Blows," if it were funnier, less traumatic, and much more randy. Tamara Jenkins finds a strong voice, one that is very perceptive to what living in that time period was like and especially what it was like living during that period that we all go through.
The film would seem less substantial if it weren't for the flawless casting of Lyonne, who provides the film with such a strong performance that it avoids the mistake that many films like this succumb to: she's as interesting if not more than all of her extremely eccentric supporting characters. Most films like this provide us with a boring, lifeless protagonist, and allow the supporting characters to do all the work. Lyonne's Vivian is an increasingly watchable and lovable character, who is cynical and curious about everything that's going on around her, and by the end, she's the character we remember the most.
But while it's very personal, it also works as a giant ensemble piece, and the supporting characters are incredibly wonderful. Alan Arkin reminds us what a cinematic treasure he is, with a performance which is perfectly nuanced and the right mix between stern and malleable. His breakdown scene, though featuring an element that just plum doesn't work, is a sight to behold. Tomei, who's been in a bit of a career slump as of late, shows that she's still a great comic actress. Corrigan, a staple of indie/art house films, gives a greatly funny performance. And Krumholtz acts as a major scene stealer, a more confident symbol of Jewish neuroticism than, say, Woody Allen.
If there's anything wrong, it's that the ending is a bit of a mess. A series of scenes at an airport lack the irony and material to really succeed. No matter. It worked for me in that it brought the film to a satisfying close that is mature and intelligent. Which is basically what you get here: a series of sequences that mostly work, and others that fail honorably, and as a whole, a film that's not only poignant, but perhaps more importantly, entertaining as hell.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews