MIAMI RHAPSODY
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Antonio Banderas, Mia Farrow, Paul Mazursky, Gil Bellows, Kevin Pollak, Carla Gugino. Screenplay/Director: David Frankel.
The line between homage and cinematic plagiarism can be a fairly fine one, and largely a matter of perception. Then there are directors who quote so frequently and so freely from their idols that it becomes an exercise in supreme critical generosity not to say that the sincerest form of flattery has become a faded photocopy of a great work of art. This week's winner of the Brian DePalma Memorial Award for Stylistic Cannibalism is David Frankel, whose MIAMI RHAPSODY, though frequently amusing, is such a blatant and second-rate ersatz Woody Allen film that it might as well have been called MIAMI HALL.
MIAMI RHAPSODY stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Gwyn Marcus, a clever but anxious writer for an ad agency. After a two year relationship she has finally become engaged to boyfriend Matt (Gil Bellows), but Gwyn seems unsure about marriage. Her uncertainties are magnified when she discovers that virtually every member of her family has been unfaithful. Her father (Paul Mazursky) has had a string of affairs; Mom (Mia Farrow) is involved with Grandma's Cuban nurse Antonio (Antonio Banderas); brother Jordan (Kevin Pollak) is cheating on his pregnant wife (Barbara Garrick). Even her younger sister Leslie (Carla Gugino), who has been married for just a few weeks, is getting some on the side. All these revelations force Gwyn to consider whether the compromises necessary in marriage are worth it all.
Frankel has crafted a fairly simple story on which to hang his witty observations about modern marriage, and has created an interesting character to act as tour guide. Gwyn is a smart and funny woman, but an overthinker who uses her cutting remarks to keep people at a distance. Sarah Jessica Parker is an extremely appealing actress, and she is full of energy and sparkle in this role. The problems begin when she opens her mouth. Her character is so obviously a gender-transferred version of Woody Allen's compulsively self-analytical intellectual that every word out of her mouth seems just horribly wrong, or a really misguided impression. I kept waiting for Parker to put on a pair of horn-rims and be done with it.
If only that were the only thing Frankel cribs from Allen. MIAMI RHAPSODY opens with a jazz score over credits on a black screen, with cast listings in alphabetical order. Sound familiar? It should if you've seen any Woody Allen film in the last fifteen years. There are several lines and concepts taken whole cloth from ANNIE HALL: a reference to the fact that "love fades;" Gwyn's final comments on relationships which are remarkably similar to Woody Allen's "we need the eggs" rationalization at the end of ANNIE HALL; even an oblique reference to the original title of ANNIE HALL (ANHEDONIA, or aversion to pleasure) in Gwyn's line, "I'm just terrified of anything good that might happen to me." Add to that a confrontation between Gwyn's father and his mistress which recalls CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, and the mere presence of Mia Farrow. With every sardonic quip and every recognizable setup, MIAMI RHAPSODY began to feel more and more forced and artificial, like some film school project to cram as many Woody Allen references as possible into 95 minutes.
None of this is to say that Frankel doesn't get off his share of very funny lines, most memorably in a scene at Leslie's wedding in which she and her husband exchange vows apparently written by Dr. Seuss. There are far worse models for making a film than Woody Allen, and Frankel fires off so many jokes that several of them invariably hit. But while Frankel is adept at writing one-liners for his characters, he doesn't really know how to place them in interesting or memorable situations. He also doesn't use his cast particularly well, leaving Gil Bellows' Matt and Kevin Pollak's Jordan to drift without a sense of who they are. MIAMI RHAPSODY is not without its moments, and I laughed more than a few times. But David Frankel is like that guy who quotes all the best lines from his favorite comedies to his friends. If I *really* want to laugh, I'll watch the original.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 would-be Allens: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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