THE OPERATOR
Reviewed by Harvey Karten BLACK WOLF PRODUCTIONS Director: Jon Dichter Writer: Jon Dichter Cast: Michael Laurence, Christa Miller, Brion James, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jacqueline Kim, Frances Bay Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 9/27/01
Americans love lawyers. The evidence? We are the world's most litigious society, proving that we can't get enough of them. We watch courtroom dramas. We recognize that attorneys make their guilty clients 'fess up, they charge reasonable fees, and they always wait until they're approached before they take a case. In fact studies have repeatedly shown that we accord them as much prestige as we confer on used car salesmen.
Of course as in every profession there are a few bad apples: those who not only bend the law to get their clients off but are not quite ethical in their dealings with others outside the courtroom. Gary Wheelan is one such operator. He cheats on his beautiful and trusting wife repeatedly. He gambles compulsively, thinking nothing of placing bets as much as five large on sporting events with his bookie, a health-food nut with a Ph.D. in physics. When he's stressed, he takes out his anger on innocent people such as telephone operators (another group of workers whom we love for their efficiency and courtesy). But he's a good lawyer and we want the best for him, so writer-director Jon Dichter gives the handsome 31-year-old striving solicitor a chance at redemption. Will he go for it, or will he be like a character in a Neil LaBute film who meets a murky end?
"The Operator," a Black Wolf production which enjoys a fast pace, noteworthy performances by the entire ensemble, crackling good writing, alternating the sardonic with the comical and the satanic with the redemptive. This is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, a modern fable of an Everyman in discord who could have moved straight up the ladder to be one of the most distinguished denizens of Dallas but chooses the wrong path and loses all. Moored in metaphysical waters, "The Operator" could have cut ice with medievalists, fond of miracle and morality plays, but the anonymous spinners of tall tales a millenium or so back would not have enjoyed David Sewell McCann and Kara Sutherlin's sharp production values.
"The Operator" opens on Gary Wheelan (Michael Laurence), a lawyer who is himself caught in flagrante delicto by the husband of a woman with whom he is enjoying a tryst, signalling the audience that it's in for a rollicking good time if director Dichter could keep up the comic pace and inject appropriate gravidas into the extra-legal proceedings. Having lost a major bet with his bookie, Doc (Stephen Tobolowsky and unable to get through to a client, he takes out his stress on a directory-assistance operator (Jacqueline Kim) who retaliates massively. Giving herself the sobriquet of Shiva, the Hindu destroyer, she listens in to his conversations and plays around with his credit card. This mystical matron proceeds to wreak havoc on the life of her prey.
"The Operator" is a stunning psychological thriller with Hitchcockian undertones, the sort of drama which uplifts while providing felicitous merriment to movie-goers fortunate to choose this indie fare over the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Michael Laurence, known to avid acolytes of the New York stage for his roles in classics like "Hamlet" and hip, contemporary productions like Sam Shepard's "Tooth of Crime," knocks out a stunning performance as a man who could have reached the heights in his profession but, worked over by a phone company employee wittier and smarter than any I have known, ends up a sadder and wiser man. His predicament hits home largely because of stellar performances by the likes of Stephen Tobolowsky as an angry bookmaker who enjoys dining on carrot juice while explaining to his luckless customer that physics and religion are indeed compatible. "You reap what you sow" meets "bodies in motion tend to remain in motion." Brion James as embezzler Vernon Woods tests the penchant of attorneys to get their clients off no matter how scurrilous their activities, pleased that his shady lawyer has no problem challenging one prospective black juror after another to eliminate those who would see the fraud for what he is.
"The Operator," then has what bright movie-goers want in a theater experience: Sex and spirituality, phoniness and philosophy, transgression and redemption--all put together in a nicely honed package embracing the supernatural and the sensible.
Not Rated. Running time: 108 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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