Slums of Beverly Hills(1998)
Director: Tamara Jenkins Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Eli Marienthal, David Krumholtz, Kevin Corrigan Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins Producers: Michael Nozik, Stan Wlodkowski Runtime: 91 min. US Distribution: Fox Searchlight (20th Century Fox) Rated R: strong sexual situations, nudity, language, drug content
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
Slums of Beverly Hills is, among other things, a quirky coming-of-age tale about 14 year-old Vivian Abramowitz (Natasha Lyonne). Writer/director Tamara Jenkins diagrams a few months in the life of young Vivian and her very-Jewish family -- her father, Murray (Alan Arkin), and her brothers (Eli Marienthal and David Krumholtz). They're a group of nomads (as they like to put it) who move around Beverly Hills from one cheap apartment complex to the next. Murray's reason for doing this is so that his kids can still go to the good schools, even though they are, in fact, living in the slums of Beverly Hills.
There are a lot of complications that arise; the most prominent, perhaps, are the sexual developments that Vivian must endure. At the age of 14, she's irregularly large-breasted (I believe the common term is "stacked," although it doesn't sound quite right in formal writing). She hates her breasts, even though they're perfect. She also fumbles about with the drug-dealing neighbor, Eliot (Kevin Corrigan). The other major subplot involves Murray's niece, Rita (Marisa Tomei), who comes to live with the fam because she doesn't like her father. Rita is a flake, and also addicted to drugs, so, though she does bond with Vivian, she also brings chaos to the household.
There's a lot going on in Jenkins' feature debut, and while it's a likable and often hilarious film, it suffers from massive tonal problems, and contains material that doesn't seem appropriate in a film that is, at the core, pretty light-hearted. There are some great scenes with a vibrator, but there are some not-so-great scenes that involve dialogue spoken entirely in Gibberish (the film introduces Gibberish as a language all its own). Jenkins also felt the need to slap us across the face with her themes, which makes me wonder how confident she is in her audience. Jenkins is clearly a gifted writer and director; she just needs to work on consistency.
The nice thing about Slums of Beverly Hills is that it's really funny. There are scenes that are immensely satisfying, such as the one I mentioned above. As I said, it involves a vibrator, but not in the sense you might be thinking. Much of the dialogue is razor sharp and oozing with cynicism. Many of the exchanges between the young, sexually-active children are hilarious, including one meeting between Vivian and Eliot: "Do you want to touch my breasts?" she asks. Without flinching, without even smiling, he replies, "okay."
The acting is very good, particularly from Lyonne. She hits all the right notes for this performance, giving Vivian equal portions of bitchiness and likability. Lyonne is an incredibly talented actress, and her capacity for big, deep roles is apparent here: she does so much for this character that I felt like she was a real person by the end of the film. Arkin is also terrific; on the surface, it looks a lot like most of his other performances, but he effectively conveys the desperation of a poor man who has to look dignified to his children. The other notable performance is from Tomei, who is wonderful here. She's such a beautiful, energetic actress; unfortunately, all of her dramatic scenes here are flaunted by Jenkins' errors in tone.
The worst scene takes place in a bathroom, just before Rita is to present herself to her father. It's basically a fight sequence between Rita and Vivian, but they're talking in Gibberish. The scene should be leaning towards the serious side, but the Gibberish makes it impossible to simply pay attention to what they're saying, let alone be moved by the words. Overall, the film is realistic, but scenes like this (and there are a few) are surrealistic, and don't belong here. The other very bad scene involves a brief display of inappropriate conduct (that's inappropriate in the Bill Clinton sense) between Murray and Rita. The scene not only has no relevance, but it blemishes our opinion of Murray, which isn't necessary -- he's flawed enough as it is.
I did like Slums of Beverly Hills, but my final impression is too mixed to give it a strictly positive review. Jenkins knows how to write comedy, and her story is very insightful into the growing process of girls. Despite it's flaws, this film is worth seeing; I imagine, however, that Jenkins will have cleaned up her act by the time her next film roles around. There's too much talent here to dismiss.
**1/2 out of **** (6/10, C+)
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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