LAKE PLACID USA, 1999 Directed by Steve Miner Written and produced by David Kelley Reviewed by Kent Johnson
Of all the films in which TV shows have graduated to the big screen, this left-handed spinoff of ALLY McBEAL, which might be better entitled ALLY GOES TO THE LAKE, has to be the oddest. The film is written by ALLY McBEAL writer/producer David Kelley and the premise is, What would happen if Ally, that neurotic, abrasive city girl (here a paleontologist rather than a lawyer and named Kelly [sounds like "Ally" and is also the writer's last name...]) had to camp out in the woods and interact with the local sherrif, game warden and an eccentric millionaire mythology professor? Kelly is played by Bridget Fonda, who acts like and is costumed to look like Ally McBeal. While Bridget was very good and very sexy, one wonders why the part wasn't played by Callista Flockhart. (The possible answer is that Fonda was Kelley's first choice for the Ally McBeal TV series, but she turned it down in order to stick with feature films, so this was his chance to have her play the role.) Oliver Platt (who was Kelley's first choice for the lead in THE PRACTICE, but also turned it down to stick with feature films) is excellent as the eccentric millionaire mythology professor and Brendan Gleeson (I WENT DOWN, THE GENERAL) and Bill Pullman are very good as, respectively, the sheriff and the game warden.
LAKE PLACID reminds me of the Dashiell Hammet novel THE THIN MAN, in that while ostensibly a mystery novel, the mystery is actually the least interesting part of the book. The interaction between the characters Nick and Nora is the interesting part and the mystery actually interrupts it -- yet, the mystery is the hook that gets the reader to pick up the novel in the first place.
In LAKE PLACID, ostensibly a monster movie, the interesting part is the witty sniping between the four disparate main characters. The dialogue is artificial and not very believable, but it's clever, original and hilarious. The crocodile hunt, the excuse for these characters to be together in the first place and the hook that gets the viewer into the theatre, is actually the least interesting part of the film. In fact, once the characters know what they're up against, it's obvious that the croc is outmatched unless the characters behave stupidly. The beginning and particularly the middle of the film, the parts with the most character conflict, are the most entertaining. The film cools down rapidly in the last third when it has to concentrate on the croc hunt and character reconciliation. Since it's only OK as a monster movie, some viewers may be disappointed, but those who can appreciate witty, well-written comedy will enjoy it tremendously.
Sample dialog (paraphrased from memory): [The professor is setting traps which the local sheriff objects to] Professor [yelling]: "These traps might just save your life and you should be concerned about saving your life because it will give you that much more time to fuck your sister!"
Recommended
Note: The characters don't know what they're up against until the middle of the film and the theatrical trailers were similarly designed to give no hint of what the monster might be. The film might have been more effective if viewers had gone in without that knowledge, but of course the two-month barrage of giant croc TV ads (which the characters in the film somehow incredibly managed to miss) spoiled any chance of that.
David Kelley's next projects are the movie MYSTERY, ALASKA and the private eye TV series SNOOPS, starring Gina Gershon.
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Kent Johnson San Francisco kjohnson@slip.net
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