FLOUNDERING
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: James LeGros, Nelson Lyon. Screenwriter/Director: Peter McCarthy.
John Boyz (James LeGros) is FLOUNDERING. In the days immediately following the Rodney King verdict riots, Los Angeles resident John is unemployed, plagued by insomnia and filled with an overwhelming sense of despair. And that's the good news. In the course of one day, John finds his meager savings confiscated by the IRS, his unemployment benefits cut off, his girlfriend in bed with another man and his strung out brother in need of a $3000 detox program. Teetering on the edge of sanity, John finds himself on a comic odyssey dominated by the spectre of class revolution and the visage of fascistic Police Chief Merryl Fence (Nelson Lyon).
This is the first directorial effort by Peter McCarthy, producer of such films as REPO MAN and TAPEHEADS, and those credits should tell you all you need to know about the style and tone of FLOUNDERING. It's a hilariously surreal examination of urban paranoia and hopelessness, filled with oddball characters, goofy stream-of-consciousness narrative and instantly quotable lines. FLOUNDERING is told through a voiceover narration by John, but it's not so much about John as it is about the chaotic world around him. John is only the tour guide, but his observations are wonderfully off-the-wall:
On the destruction in South Central L.A.: "Maybe we should leave it as a reminder ... then [Peter] Ueberroth will turn it into a riot theme park."
On romance: "True love is the ultimate fiction ... if you ever walk into a room and find yourself instantly attracted to someone, get out of that room as fast as you can."
On a sign in a bakery that reads, "Please don't feed the homeless beggars:" "Who the h*** should you feed?"
McCarthy's script is rich with such moments. Unfortunately, it's also rich with heavy-handed left-wing moralizing which could easily turn off those with differing points of view. Characters representing "The System," like Chief Fence and John's teacher- turned-corporate bigwig friend Doug, are essentially cardboard cutouts used to mouth opposing dogma. It's therefore very fortunate that so many of the other minor roles are so funny. Many of them are played by "name" actors in cameos, like John Cusack as a philosophical party-goer, Steve Buscemi as a friend of John's angry about child slavery rings, and Ethan Hawke as John's paranoid brother.
In the middle of it all is James LeGros as John, who adopts an appropriately blank Young Everyman quality. He's a guy with a good heart who finds himself overwhelmed by the apparent injustices in his world and his feelings of powerlessness to do anything about it. The snapshots taken by his mental camera provide a bitingly satirical collage of urban life, but surprisingly McCarthy doesn't opt for utter cynicism. Instead, he manages to balance black-humored sarcasm and social commentary with an ultimately optimistic message of personal responsibility. For those who enjoy their comedy with an edge and don't mind the occasional preaching, there's a real winner to be found in FLOUNDERING.
Besides, how can you not love a film that ends with two guitarists, one black and one white, singing a marvelously off-key duet of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?"
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 riots: 8.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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