2 BY 4
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Strand Releasing Director: Jimmy Smallhorne Writer: Terry McGoff, Jimmy Smallhorne Cast: Jimmy Smallhorne, Chris O'Neill, Bradley Fitts, Joe Holyoke, Terry McGoff, Michael Liebman, Roman Carr, Leo Hamill, Seamus McDonagh, Kimberly Topper, Conor Foran, James Hanrahan, Marian Quinn
You've got to hand it to Jimmy Smallhorne, who directed and is the principal performer in the low-budget indie "2 by 4." He assembled a cast of both professional actors and ordinary men on the street and combines them so well that you can't tell the ringers from the Joe Sixpacks. Far more important, he tells a story that might have been the subject of "Confidential" magazine if that publication were still around today, a tale that the people of a particular ethnic community would rather keep buried. According to Smallhorne, not all Irish in America are as pure and innocent as Leprechauns, singing "Danny Boy" and Clancy Brothers folks songs as pursue the good life in America. At least one fringe group composed largely of recent immigrants from the Emerald Isle are settled in New York's north Bronx region, spending their night snorting coke and engaging in homosexual encounters with hangers-on, squandering their days on low-wage construction jobs for which they are not qualified. The title of the movie comes from a standard measurement of the sheetrock that Smallhorne's particular gang put together on a construction site, work for which many have had no experience and for which they may not get paid even that pittance.
Unfortunately, "2 by 4" suffers from its own strained budget, its indoor scenes for the most part insufficiently lit, its dream sequences generic and unenlightening, and its flashbacks unsophisticated. The drama focuses on Johnnie (Jimmy Smallhorne), who is the foreman of a construction crew working under a contract secured by Johnnie's uncle, Trump (the late Chris O'Neill). Jimmy has a nice enough girl friend, the pixie-like Maria (Kimberly Topper), who one day surprises him with a present of a pair of tight-fitting leather pants. It's as though Maria suspects that her man, who has been experiencing dreadful dreams and periods of silence, is bi-sexual as she prods him to wear the trousers to the local bar. During the day, Johnnie tries unsuccessfully to get his inexperienced work crew to speed up their work on the sheetrock, as uncle Trump is under pressure from the trio of Hasidic men who have hired him as their builder. By night, Johnnie falls under the influence of cocaine, alcohol, a seedy dance establishment, and has a surprising encounter with Christian (Bradley Fitts), a gay, vulnerable street man who becomes a clinging vine to Johnnie.
By the movie's conclusion we become aware of the source of Johnnie's nightmares and his sexual confusion, but the scene displaying his encounter with the basis of his troubles is anticlimactic and acted out almost casually as though the confrontation were nothing more than the sharing of a cup of tea. Jimmy confronts his demon but appears unlikely to change his behavior.
If the Susan Sarandon-Natalie Portman film "Anywhere But Here," opening at about the same time as "2 by 4" is a chick flick, then "2 by 4" is something for the guys. When I read that the critic for the German web publication known as "Queer View" finds this film to "unparalleled" and "by far the best gay film since 'Lilies'" and even "one of the three most important of the decade," I couldn't help doing a double take and asking that old rhetorical question, "Did we see the same movie?"
Granted: the film is refreshingly raw. The men speak working-class Irish with such heavy accents that English titles must be used throughout--and that's to Smallhorne's credit. But the trajectory is muddled, the story tumbling from one incident in the life of a confused, self-destructive dude to another.
Not Rated. Running Time: 90 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews