Play It to the Bone (1999) Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich, Tom Sizemore, Lucy Alexis Liu, Robert Wagner, Richard Masur, Willie Garson, Cylk Cozart and Jack Carter, with cameo appearances by Jim Lampley, George Foreman, Larry Merchant, Darrell Foster, Steve Lawrence, Mitch Halpern, Chuck Hull, Buddy Greco, Kevin Costner, James Woods, Mike Tyson, Rod Stewart. Written and directed by Ron Shelton. 122 minutes. Rated R, 2.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Edward+Johnson-Ott
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In movieland, January is known for two things. First, viewers get to see those prestige films that opened exclusively in NYC and LA in December to qualify for the Academy Awards. Second, the studios use the month to burn off those action flicks and comedies deemed too weak to make the grade during the competitive holiday season. "Play It to the Bone" fits squarely in the latter category. Even though the movie boasts a well-known cast and a writer/director with a great track record, it suffers from a meandering, anemic screenplay and ungainly structure. This is the kind of film best enjoyed on cable or video, where you can lay on the couch and appreciate its pleasures without sacrificing the time and money for a trip to the theater.
The storyline is the basic stuff of most sports movies. Following the death of two middleweight fighters, boxing promoter Joe Domino (Tom Sizemore) must find last minute substitutes to fill the opening card for a high profile Mike Tyson match. He contacts Cesar Dominguez (Antonio Banderas) and Vince Boudreau (Woody Harrelson), ex-contenders who now eke out a living as sparring partners in a sleazy LA gym, and offers $50,000 to each man, with the promise that the winner will get a shot at the middleweight championship.
With visions of success and fame dancing through their heads, the best friends convince Grace Pasic (Lolita Davidovich), who has been romantically involved with both men, to give them a ride to Las Vegas. And so the three hop in her lime-green 1972 Olds convertible and leave for the big match, taking the "scenic route" to pad out the movie.
The bulk of "Play It to the Bone" is a road story and it's a long drive. Writer/director Ron Shelton, known for finely drawn examinations of the relationship dynamics between athletes ("Bull Durham," "White Men Can't Jump," "Tin Cup"), creates some sparkling moments, but not enough to keep the trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas from becoming tedious. When the guys finally square off in the ring, the film kicks into high gear, with dynamic play by play scenes that pack a visceral wallop. But then Shelton spoils things with a cop-out denouement that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson do admirable work fleshing out their characters. Using an uncharacteristically simplistic sit-com mentality, Shelton gives each man one major personality quirk to make him more colorful. Banderas' Cesar casually mentions that, after losing a match to a gay boxer, he "tried being a fag for about a year," in the superstitious hope of capturing the winning spirit of his victor. Harrelson's Vince is an unfocused born-again Christian and reacts to his friend's revelation with disgust, fueling numerous arguments between the two.
Banderas is good in his most challenging English language role to date. He paints Cesar as a none-too-bright, extremely likable man whose machismo is neatly balanced by his gentle, childlike side. His openness concerning his sexual confusion is refreshing and adds to the charm of the character. Although playing an ornery redneck is nothing new for Harrelson, he still acquits himself nicely, although, with each new film, the rabid dog gleam in his eye becomes a bit more pronounced, pulling him further and further away from that sweet, innocent bartender I loved so much on "Cheers."
In the middle of the mix is Grace, who plays mind games with both men to juice them up for the match. Easily smarter than both guys put together, Grace knows just what to say to ratchet up the tension level, and Lolita Davidovich deftly adds layers of vitality and heart to her thinly-written character. "Ally McBeal's" Lucy Liu pops up briefly as a fiery hitchhiker. Liu is clearly intended to increase the sizzle within the trio, but comes off more as just another way for Shelton to kill time before the trio arrives in Las Vegas.
Why he felt the need to stretch out the road trip is beyond me. To be sure, for the climactic boxing match to have sufficient dramatic impact, we need time to get to know the players, but devoting two-thirds of the movie to the journey is absurd. After a while, I felt like a kid sitting in the back seat of the convertible, bouncing up and down while pleading "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Once we do arrive, Banderas and Harrelson are so entertaining in their exhaustive big bout (complete with some very funny hallucinations) that the main question becomes "was that trip really necessary?" Had Ron Shelton pared about 30 minutes off the drive, the answer might have been "Yes."
© 2000 Ed Johnson-Ott
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