GETTING TO KNOW YOU A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
"When things go bad in a family, they go bad quickly," teenage daughter Judith (Heather Matarazzo) says with a fatalistic acceptance. "Like fruit, it can be good and then be rotten in an hour." The problem with Judith's home life is that, no matter how much she might like to think otherwise, it has always been in a state of decay.
Writer and director Lisanne Skyler, whose background is in documentaries, gathered her material for GETTING TO KNOW YOU from several of Joyce Carol Oates's short stories.
Judith's brother, Wesley (Zach Braff), is about to leave for college. A bright, hard-working kid who could recite the periodic table backwards, he has become Judith's surrogate parent. Due to a family quarrel gone bad, the mother is in a mental hospital, and the father just got out of jail and doesn't want to talk to either of his two kids ever again.
In a telling flashback, the two teenagers look through the family photo album, which is filled with pictures taken mainly before they were born. Judith allows as how her mom's camera has been broken. Of course, over a decade is a long time in the shop.
Called "The Marvelous McIntyres" in their heyday -- to the extent that they ever had one -- their parents were wannabe stars who went from one low-paying temporary job to another, each of which was a subject of derision. This forced the family to live an itinerate lifestyle, moving from town to town. Sometimes they'd move just because the parents felt like it.
As Judith, Heather Matarazzo gets her first meaty role since 1996's WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE -- my absolute favorite film that year. Matarazzo is a master at the reaction shot, but she still hasn't quite learned how to setup scenes on her own.
The movie is set mainly in a seedy bus station inhabited mainly by a cross-section of the lower economic strata. Some hang out there, semi-permanently, but others are actually there to catch a bus.
While Judith and Wesley wait for their respective buses, they meet Jimmy (Michael Weston), who was a high school classmate of Wesley's. Or was he?
Jimmy is the local eavesdropper. Ask him about anyone, and he'll tell you the story he overheard them telling. But like a screenwriter in the making, he just needs to overhear a single sentence, and he can concoct an elaborate story for them, which the movie shows as a flashback.
One of Jimmy's stories is about a woman who meets and falls for a flashy gambler at an Atlantic City casino. Another concerns a woman who can't have children and the religious zealot and his son with whom she goes to live.
Always kind of interesting, but rarely compelling, GETTING TO KNOW YOU never quite gels. It drags frequently, probably because the director is still learning her craft.
Although it has some charm and poignancy, the story never quite draws you in. The premise of a character who makes up stories was done recently and better in THE CHAMBERMAID. Only in the sad tale of the dysfunctional family does the movie deliver much emotional payoff. But this is a well-traveled theme in modern movies, and GETTING TO KNOW YOU doesn't break any new ground. A pleasant but predictable film, it does contain likeable performances by the talented Weston and Matarazzo.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU runs 1:36. It is not rated but probably would be PG-13 for mature themes, language and a little violence.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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