MEN LIE
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (0 to 10): 5.2
Date Released: (late) Summer 1994 Running Length: 1:26 Rated: R (Language, mature themes, sexual situations)
Starring: Michael DeLuca, Ellia Thompson, Frank Vincent,
Victor Argo
Director: John Gallagher
Screenplay: John Gallagher
Distribution undetermined
As might be guessed from the title, this is not a movie that takes an optimistic view on the basic honesty of men in relationships. What might have been called "man bashing" had it been penned by a woman will likely be termed "insightful" and "honest" in this instance, since writer/director John Gallagher is a man.
MEN LIE follows the relationship of Scott (Michael DeLuca in his screen debut) and Jill (Ellia Thompson) through rocky times. Scott is one of those compulsive womanizers who goes to a bar or dance club every night to pick up someone new. At any given time, he has at least one fling going on outside of his long-term relationship. Jill, on the other hand, is resolutely faithful, and convinced that the same is true of her boyfriend. When one of her friends tries to hint at Scott's infidelity, Jill won't listen. Of course, no matter how long she tries to ignore the truth, it's obvious that eventually something is going to happen that Scott won't be able to pass off as an "optical illusion."
Give John Gallagher credit for adding a new spin to an old, old theme. Instead of routinely telling Scott and Jill's story, he inter- sperses their scenes with a number of quirky comments and "interviews" with people-on-the-street types - the modern-day equivalent of a Greek chorus. These feature, among others, Aida Turturro (of ANGIE) as a man-hating woman who wears a hat that declares "Men Lie", Cathy (daughter of Martin) Scorsese and Catherine (mother of Martin) Scorsese arguing about men, and Michael Imperioli (Spider in GOODFELLAS) as a "sex surrogate" who defends his infidelities on the grounds that he's acting in the best interests of his "patients." While many of these sequences contain obvious cliches, they are presented in an engaging, amusing manner. Unfortunately, the primary plot doesn't have the same distinction.
The autopsy of Scott and Jill's relationship is stale, trite, and often unconvincing. If the ultimate aim of this portion of the movie is to get across the "men can be pigs" point, it succeeds, but beyond that, there isn't much here. Both characters are relatively shallow, and the stiff acting of the two leads doesn't help. Not only wasn't I convinced that these were real people, but I didn't much care what happened to them.
Stealing scenes left and right is veteran screen actor Frank Vincent (a Martin Scorsese alum, with GOODFELLAS and RAGING BULL among his numerous credits). Vincent is one of the few consistently good performers, and the comic edge that he brings to Uncle Frank helps defuse the growing sense of tedium. Of course, Frank is just a stereotype, but that doesn't negate the humor.
Writer/director John Gallagher came to this project with the idea of putting together a movie that takes a lighthearted-yet-realistic look at male/female relationships. Given the constraints of a low budget and an 11-day shooting schedule, the result is perhaps better than one might reasonably expect. There are moments when this small, independent production sparkles, but these are sandwiched between scenes that offer little in the way of freshness or creativity. And, after all, does it really take eighty-six minutes to tell us something that's evident from the start - that men lie?
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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