_Goodbye_Lover_ (R) *** (out of ****)
Imagine you're the head of a major studio. You have an interesting little film that is hard to categorize, yet you have enough faith in the project to unveil it at a major international film festival. Your faith is confirmed when the film receives, on the whole, a warm reception. What do you do now? If you're the head of Warner Bros., apparently you don't do anything.
Despite good notices at Cannes last May, Roland Joffe's description-defying _Goodbye_Lover_ has been sitting on the studio shelf ever since, its release date being randomly tossed around the schedule like a hot potato (until recently, it had been targeted for a release in January... of 2000). But after much headscratching in the WB marketing department, the studio has now finally decided to bite the bullet, setting an all-but-concrete mid-April release. So what exactly was the problem?
After watching the film, it's easy to see why Warner was at a loss as to what to do. _Goodbye_Lover_ is a very enjoyable lark of an entertainment, but the film's virtues are exactly what made it such hell to market--it's a deliciously unpredictable thriller with a dark, very offbeat sense of humor. That the film juggles both elements is unusual enough; that the film juggles them as well as it does is even moreso.
A lot of the enjoyment to be had with _Goodbye_Lover_ hinges on surprise, so I'll speak of the plot in the vaguest possible terms. Sultry Los Angeles real estate agent Sandra Dunmore (Patricia Arquette) is married to Jake (Dermot Mulroney), whose career as an ad exec is threatened by his little drinking problem. Jake's older brother is slick, pompous public relations exec Ben (Don Johnson), who is dutifully served by staff underling Peggy Blaine (Mary-Louise Parker). Needless to say, nothing is quite as it seems in this twisted little circle, and eventually a crime within it brings the group to the attention of burned-out police detective Rita Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres).
Warner Bros. is describing _Goodbye_Lover_ as a "film gris" (as opposed to noir), and the description is apt (for the French-challenged, "gris" means grey). In the most basic sense, its underlying, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor keeps it from reaching the darkness of pure noir, yet the mordant nature of the humor doesn't exactly make the film a sunny romp, either. But the "gris" label also fits how seamlessly Joffe and writers Ron Peer, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow meld their two genre worlds. They have their cake and eat it too, coming up with a comic thriller that genuinely surprises or, rather, a twisty comedy that delivers laughs--though, it must be said, that a number of wisecracks, which primarily come from the mouth of Pompano, clang.
However, the occasional groaner is forgivable when there is such an intriguing cast of characters. All are well-played by the actors, but there are two cast members who stand out the most. The most interesting character is Sandra, who looks and dresses like a siren, yet she's also a devout churchgoer (a volunteer, no less) who loves listening to self-improvement tapes and _The_Sound_of_Music_. Arquette's typically flat line delivery, which often fails her (most recently in _The_Hi-Lo_Country_), is actually works here, a perfect fit for the character's ambiguity. DeGeneres has an ideal film showcase as the heard- and seen-it-all Pompano, and though her character's sarcastic asides don't always hit the mark, she delivers them with aplomb.
The greatest irony of year-long marketing-mulling session on _Goodbye_Lover_ is that regardless of what direction Warner Bros. decides to take with its publicity campaign, the film is just about certain to flop; its sensibilities are much too warped to appeal to a wide audience. Nonetheless, its fresh, unique voice will likely win _Goodbye_Lover_ a devoted group of admirers, as it did nearly a year ago at Cannes. (opens April 16)
Michael Dequina
mrbrown@iname.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com
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