JUMP TOMORROW
Reviewed by Harvey Karten FilmFour Director: Joel Hopkins Writer: Joel Hopkins Cast: Tunde Abebimpe, Hippolyte Giradot, Natalia Verbeke, James Wilby, Patricia Mauceri, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kaili Vernoff, Gene Ruffini, Abiola Wendy Abrams
"Jump Tomorrow" is a curiously unfunny romantic comedy, with sparks generated only by the relationship between two heterosexual men who team up on a buddy trip that takes them on the road to Niagara Falls and vicinity. We can only guess that the movie was featured in the recent Sundance Festival because of its politically correct mixture of cultures and races, as the two men and two women are Nigerian, French, Spanish and British respectively, all having lived at least part of their lives in the United States. The film is unlike recent British drug-and-crime imports like "Trainspotting," "Sexy Beast," "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" but considering its indie classification it is virtually bereft of style or signature--more like a romantic sitcom you're likely to see on TV any weeknight at about 7.
In his feature film debut, writer-director Joel Hopkins may feel some pride in affirming both the casualness of intercultural connections and a liberal-minded putdown of arranged unions, but both concepts are old hat by now, and in any case we're way ahead of him on the question of who will wind up with whom in this predictable little yarn.
Hopkins introduces us to Nigerian-American George (Tunde Adebimpe) who contrary to the now-tattered stereotype is as uptight as any old-money Brit could be. Asked by several people, including a jeweler, to "smile, you're getting married," George can barely squeeze out a grin. He puckers his lips, rolls his eyes right and left, and conveys an expression that could win him quite a few hands at poker. When a love-obsessed Frenchman, Gerard (Hippolyte Girardot), runs into him at the airport where George had gone to meet his intended but is one day late, the two strike up a conversation about the nature of love and find themselves promptly together in a rental car where Gerard agrees to give George a lift to Niagara Falls, the site of his forthcoming marriage. Coincidentally, George has met the talkative Spaniard Alicia (Natalia Verbeke), who is on her way to the same area with her English boy friend Nathan (James Wilby). No sooner does Alicia call Geroge "Jorge" then George is smitten and, while on a pit stop heading to Niagara he buys a tape that purports to teach one Spanish.
How George and Alicia ever got cozy with each other is anybody's guess, but director Joel Hopkins seems to be clueless on this matter, especially since--as we later learn--George's fiance is a strikingly attractive Nigerian immigrant, Sophie (Abiola Wendy Abrams) while Alicia is a plain-featured, motormouthed bore.
Nonetheless the performers try their best with a lame script, with Tunde Adebimpe successfully maintaining his deadpan features (not too difficult considering the lack of laughs in the script), Hippolyte Girardot doing OK as a second-rate Daniel Auteuil, and James Wilby projecting embarrassment at not being in his usual Merchant-Ivory venue. Poor Adebimpe has to take his share of pratfalls, dropping to the floor not once, not twice but three times while riding shotgun in the Citroen and bumping his head into anything that gets in the way of his 6-feet + frame. Unfortunately he is neither Chevy Chase nor Gerald Ford.
Not Rated. Running time: 97 minutes. (C)2001, Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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