DIAMOND MEN -----------
Eddie Miller (Robert Forster, "Jackie Brown"), a man in his fifties, suddenly finds his livelihood threatened when a mild heart attack renders him uninsurable. He's a fine jewelry salesman who travels throughout Pennsylvania with a million dollars worth of inventory. Clinging to the only job he knows, Eddie agrees to train his replacement, the young, brash Bobby Walker (Donnie Wahlberg, "The Sixth Sense") in writer/director Dan Cohen's "Diamond Men."
Bobby arrives in a flashy sports car ('I can't sit in that seat - my prostrate will be up in my throat,' harrumphs Eddie) full of bravado. When Eddie worries about 'protecting the line' by remaining inconspicuous, Bobby retorts that it's insured and begins to score chicks in each remote hamlet. He's late in the morning, uses profanity in front of customers and can't handle jeweler's equipment. Eddie is beside himself, but one day they have a breakthrough when Bobby appreciates Eddie explaining the difference between two diamonds to a shopper. 'What's the magic word?' he asks Eddie afterwards,
referring to Eddie's ability to make sale after sale while he strikes out. 'They're not saying no, they're saying give me a reason to say yes,' replies Eddie.
Now that the young man has asked for his help, Eddie softens and they open up to each other. Bobby scored well on a test, but he admits a friend actually filled it out and his only experience on the road has been filling vending machines. Eddie, meanwhile, has recently lost his beloved wife to cancer and the long illness just about wiped him out financially. Eddie becomes more encouraging and patient training Bobby while Bobby becomes committed to finding a female companion for Eddie. When none of his small town conquests are interested in the older man, Bobby brings him to his friend Tina (Jasmine Guy, TV's "A Different World"), who runs The Altoona Riding Club, a backwoods brothel. It's here that Eddie's nightmares and unimagined dreams will both come true.
Cohen has not one, but two triumphs with his small, independent feature. Firstly, he captures completely the world of a salesman's small town route where routine and out of the way motels and restaurants are comfortingly familiar and customers are treated like old friends. Secondly, he's elicited strong and natural performances from his two costars, with Forster's being one of the best male leads of the year.
Forster's Eddie is an exceedingly decent and competent man, trying to roll with the extremely bad hand he's been dealt. While he's initially (and justifiably) exasperated with Bobby's behavior, he always keeps his cool, like the mellow jazz he likes to listen to. Wahlberg is hilariously obnoxious at first, hoping his flashy loudness will be misinterpreted as confidence. Bess Armstrong is good, if a bit too clinical as Katie, the woman Eddie meets at Tina's and George Coe is fine as Tip, one of Eddie's oldest customers.
The film begins to lose its momentum in its final act, but finds its way back again by delivering a satisfying and unexpected punchline. "Diamond Men" sparkles most, however, when examining the moments so many would find dull.
B
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com robin@reelingreviews.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29829 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 254977 X-RT-TitleID: 1110546 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1487
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews