CABIN BOY
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 4.4
Date Released: 1/7/94 Running Length: 1:20 Rated: PG-13 (Language)
Starring: Chris Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James, James Gammon, Melora Walters, Russ Tamblyn Director: Adam Resnick Producers: Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi Screenplay: Adam Resnick Released by Touchstone Pictures
As with any movie that Tim Burton appends his name to, CABIN BOY possesses a distinctive flavor--visually impressive, and containing elements of fantasy and mythology alongside the ordinary and commonplace. Inspired by such diverse sources as CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, the SINBAD movies, and PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, this film should provide a fun--if bizarre--eighty minutes. Unfortunately, it stars Chris Elliott, a man with little charisma and less screen presence.
Nathaniel (Chris Elliott) has just graduated from the Stephenson Finishing School, where he has successfully completed all the requisite courses to become an official "fancy lad" (a stuck up, aristocratic juvenile). After leaving the school, he's all set to take over the running of his father's hotel in Hawaii. However, on the way to the ship port, he encounters a few difficulties, and instead of getting on the luxury liner "Queen Catherine," he mistakenly boards "The Filthy Whore," a fishing scow. When the roughneck crew, led by Captain Graybar (Ritch Brinkley) refuse to take him to his destination, Nathaniel does some meddling of his own to attempt the course change. It doesn't work, and "The Filthy Whore" ends up in a section of the sea called "Hell's Bucket," where icebergs walk, cup cakes talk, clouds laugh, green women (as played by Ann Magnuson) have six arms, and hardware store managers (Mike Starr) are fifty feet tall.
CABIN BOY has its share of clever moments, but the most frustrating thing about Adam Resnick's script is that, while toying with a host of intriguing concepts, it takes neither the time nor the effort to develop any of them. There is enough untapped potential in this film to provide fuel for half a dozen full-length features.
The humor is distinctly unfunny, as the picture repeatedly courts cheap laughs. A cameo by David Letterman lacks wit (and intelligence)--a condition shared by more than that scene. By comic standards, CABIN BOY is a failure, proving that no matter how badly a movie wants to make its audience laugh, it needs to be amusing to do so.
Chris Elliott is appallingly bad as the title character. Although his role cries out for an over-the-top performance, Elliott's grating personae cancels out any positive contributions made by his inability to act. His work is amateurish, transforming possibly-entertaining sequences into tedious interludes. Without its star, CABIN BOY might have gotten by on sheer whimsy, but Elliott is nearly omnipresent.
The film makes occasional stabs at satire, but many are poorly-delineated and difficult to identify, while others are entirely too obvious. Frequently, CABIN BOY doesn't seem to know what tone to adopt, wobbling uncertainly between lighthearted fantasy, silly comedy, and biting parody. This split personality quickly becomes obvious to those sitting in theater seats.
In this time of visual masterpieces like JURASSIC PARK and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, the special effects work evident in CABIN BOY is embarrassing, and it would be stretching matters to believe that such poor quality is an asset to the film's satirical bent. There are numerous times when it's obvious that "The Filthy Whore" is a model, and when a giant lifts Nathaniel into the air, it takes a lot of imagination to identify the rag doll with Chris Elliott (since the doll turns in a far better performance).
CABIN BOY is writer/director Adam Resnick's directorial debut, and the presence of his good friend Elliott helps sabotage it. Resnick's next project is something called HOPETOWN, which he describes as "another sort of offbeat comedy--that doesn't take place at sea." If he can expand on his current release's flashes of inventiveness, there's reason to be optimistic about HOPETOWN, especially since it won't feature CABIN BOY's marquee "actor."
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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