SIMPATICO A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
Academy AwardŽ Nominee Nick Nolte. Academy AwardŽ Nominee Jeff Bridges. Academy AwardŽ Nominee Sharon Stone. What the ads for "Simpatico" seem to be telling us is that this latest screen adaptation of a Sam Shepard play is populated by a cast of losers.
For all the lack of statuettes on their mantels, however, the problem with "Simpatico" isn't its cast. The opportunity to see Nolte, Bridges, and Stone working together is wonderful. Having said that, Stone's top billing is ludicrous given that she's essentially in only two scenes. One of these scenes requires her to Act, like Jessica Lange in a Tennessee Williams potboiler--drinking, smoking, hanging around in a flimsy bathrobe with bloodshot eyes, a gun, and a Southern drawl. She does this rather well. The other scene requires her to ride a horse, the titular Simpatico, in a fetching red raspberry dress.
No, it's Shepard's play that's at the heart of the problem. "Simpatico" might have worked well on the stage, engaging the viewer with its volatile interactions set against the high-stakes world of the Kentucky Derby, but it becomes convoluted and disengaging when opened up for the big screen. It's hard to follow what's going on, why Nolte's and Bridge's characters are mysteriously morphing into one anothers over the course of the picture, and what prompted British theater director Matthew Warchus to make his screen directing debut with this particular piece.
Nolte plays a Cucamonga bum (imagine "Down and Out in Beverly Hills") first name Vinnie, Bridges is a wealthy Lexington thoroughbred breeder last name Carter, and Stone is his emotionally bruised wife with whom nobody appears to be sleeping.
In their youth (via flashbacks), these three perpetrated a major scam involving a duped horse and a racing commissioner, the fallout from which begins to resurface as "Simpatico," the film, enters the starting gate. Said racing commissioner is sparingly portrayed by Albert Finney, an Academy AwardŽ Winner at last! He's credible, but the film's advertised promise of Love, Betrayal, and Money is never fully realized. There's certainly no love to be found anywhere here; perhaps Intercourse, Photographs, and Blackmail would have been more truthful a sell.
Catherine Keener ("Being John Malkovich") does her twitchy-American-female-version-of-Hugh-Grant thing again as an unlikely Payless supermarket checkout gal.
If the film's title sounds like the next Corona, it's not inappropriate. "Simpatico" comes wrapped in a fancy label--Nolte, Bridges, Stone--but inside the product is flat and weak.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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