WILBUR FALLS A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
High school valedictorian Renata Devereaux (Shanee Edwards) is an accomplished scholar with enough extracurricular activities to her credit -- including president of the band and star singer in the school's musicals -- to make it easy for her to get into the college of her choice. College, however, isn't what is on her mind these days. She wants a little revenge before she leaves her old high school campus.
In writer and director Juliane Glantz's WILBUR FALLS, the characters are all quirky, but none are interesting enough to care about. Veteran actors Sally Kirkland and Danny Aiello play Roberta and Phil, Renata's bizarre parents. Roberta is a freeze-dried hippie who doesn't realize the 1960s are gone. In a crisis, her body reverts to its natural yoga position, and her voice erupts in chanting spasms. Phil, the town's ex-sheriff, wiles away his time in a classic outhouse. Using it almost like an office and private meditation chamber, he spends hours there reading.
Four years ago, before Phil got voted out of office, Jeff Avalle (Charles Newmark) got hold of some erotic drawings that Renata had made. Distributing them at a school dance, he embarrassed her so horribly that she has always wanted to get back at him. Before she leaves town, she vows to make a fool out of Jeff.
Roberta's stunt goes awry, and she accidentally murders Jeff. Or does she? The body of the movie, which you might expect to be about her worrying about being discovered and about what actually happened, is instead packed with a series of unrelated subplots. It is as if first-time writer and director Glantz wanted to get every idea she ever had into her first movie. Besides the murder, we get an abortion, an abortion rights protest, a lesbian fling and even the mob in the person of one Johnny Handsome (Fred Stoller), who is anything but.
Although not a bad movie, it plays more like a series of sketches that someone might show to a producer with the idea that the producer would chose which one to develop. Glantz shows some raw promise in the film. Hopefully her second film will be more focused and have a few compelling characters.
WILBUR FALLS runs 1:35. It is not rated but would probably be an R for brief profanity, nudity, sexuality and mature themes and would be fine for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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