PUBLIC ACCESS
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1993 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Ron Marquette, Dina Brooks, Charles Kavanaugh. Screenplay: Chris McQuarrie, Bryan Singer and Michael Feit Dougan. Director: Bryan Singer.
Life in the middle-American town of Brewster will never be the same after the arrival of drifter Whiley Pritcher (Ron Marquette) in PUBLIC ACCESS, the Grand Jury Prize Winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Whiley is a charming, affable fellow who immediately makes (air)waves when he begins a call-in program on the local public access cable station. His one and only question: what's wrong with Brewster? The citizens at first seem unwilling or unable to find any flaws in their town, but eventually callers begin expressing their anger at neighbors, teenagers and even Brewster's popular mayor Tom Breyer (Charles Kavanaugh). Whiley also attracts the interest of Rachel (Dina Brooks), a shy young librarian. As tensions rise in the town, Whiley begins working towards fulfilling his ultimate purpose in Brewster.
PUBLIC ACCESS is an ambitious, stylish film that manages to find itself both inches from brilliance and inches from complete impenitrability. It's a dark tale of family values gone awry, and manages to establish an effective tone of simmering menace. The problems really begin when that simmer should be turning into a boil. The first half of PUBLIC ACCESS is thoroughly intriguing, introducing Whiley in a manner that makes it clear that something about him is not quite right, but keeps you guessing as to what exactly it is. Ron Marquette, a dead ringer for Harry Connick Jr., plays Whiley as a telegenic Mr. Rogers, a smiling snake oil salesman with a comforting tone who has discovered the perfect medium for getting what he wants. As long as Whiley remains a mystery, PUBLIC ACCESS is a gripping drama. However, the resolution leaves mutliple threads hanging and inspires a great deal of head scratching. What were Whiley's motivations, or do they even matter? Has he succeeded or failed in what he set out to do in Brewster? A climactic confrontation between Whiley and a vocal critic was disappointingly short on tension, and the pivotal montage which brings the film to a close seems so deliberately opaque that it's just off-putting.
Viewers of PUBLIC ACCESS will likely find immediate similarities to David Lynch's BLUE VELVET. Director and co-writer Bryan Singer seems not at all shy about paying homage to influences like Lynch, Alan Parker and the Coen brothers. Unfortunately, he never quite combines all these elements into a style all his own. The interjection of a couple of eccentric public access programs is jarring, and leads the viewer to believe that PUBLIC ACCESS is going to be *about* cable television, which it absolutely is not. Nothing in Singer's direction really stands out except lingering shots of a ceiling fan and a glass of water which scream "meaningful." The technical credits are superb, particularly the evocative score and taut editing, both by San Jose native John Ottman. Singer just doesn't deliver when he really needs to.
I do wish to single out Ron Marquette's performance as a creepy triumph. He provides a solid counterpoint to the naturalistic performances of the townspeople, and his rendering of Whiley Pritcher almost sells PUBLIC ACCESS singlehandedly. When it comes right down to it, though, ACCESS isn't accessible enough, and it doesn't sprint to the finish.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 cable stations: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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