ROOMMATES
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Peter Falk, D. B. Sweeney, Julianne Moore. Screenplay: Max Apple & Stephen Metcalfe. Director: Peter Yates.
It is a frequent but rather silly criticism leveled at certain Hollywood films that they are "manipulative," or push emotional buttons. It is silly because it is self-evident; all art tries to make you feel a certain way, and movies are no exception. The real, unspoken criticism is that the movies targeted manipulate too obviously, and are usually specifically manipulating the audience towards a good cry. ROOMMATES is one of these awww-inspiring efforts, but it doesn't do the job. Comprised of all the pieces that are supposed to work, ROOMMATES doesn't work because it lacks a cohesive story to complement Peter Falk's engaging performance.
ROOMMATES opens in 1963 Pittsburg, where 6-year-old Michael Holeczek (Noah Fleiss) finds himself oraphaned when his widowed mother also dies. Some relatives suggest sending him away to school, but Michael's feisty, 77-year-old immigrant grandfather Rocky (Peter Falk) will have none of that. Michael grows up with Rocky, and eventually moves to Columbus, Ohio to become a doctor. Soon, however, the adult Michael (D. B. Sweeney) will have a chance to repay Rocky for his support, as Rocky is forced to move out of his condemned apartment and in with Michael. Unfortunately, Rocky tends to cramp Michael's style, especially when Michael starts dating Beth (Julianne Moore), a social worker whose personality clashes considerably with Rocky's.
ROOMMATES seems like it could have been an interesting concept. Generational conflict in film rarely involves characters separated by two generations, and there are very few films that deal with characters over 70. There are two key differences between what could have happened and what did happen. The first is that while Peter Falk is playing a character who ages from 77 to 107, he is actually just 60. Consequently, he is buried under layers of prosthetics by Greg Cannom (MRS. DOUBTFIRE, THE MASK) which draw garish attention to themselves. Make no mistake, Falk's performance as Rocky is entertaining; he delivers his Old World wisdom with wit and bite. But at a certain point, his characterization becomes caricature, just another Grumpy Old Man who is one step ahead of his youngers. It is pleasant to watch Rocky grow closer to his grandchildren, but it is less so to watch him grow progressively entombed in latex.
The second, and far more glaring, problem is that the generational conflict angle is only a fraction of the story. For a while, ROOMMATES makes the most of the comic possibilities inherent in a young, single man sharing a small room with a very old-fashioned old man. When Michael brings Beth home, Rocky makes no secret of his disapproval of pre-marital sex, and it is refreshing that his point of view is given a certain amount of respect by the filmmakers. A tense exchange between Beth and Rocky is very well handled by both Julianne Moore and Falk, and highlights everything that was most promising about the idea for ROOMMATES.
Then, far too suddenly, ROOMMATES lurches onto a completely different plot branch, with Rocky living with both Michael and Beth and offering commentary on domestic life. After a while, the plot jerks onto another tangent, this one spending far too much time focused on a custody battle and movie-of-the-week style family squabbling. ROOMMATES is based on a personal remembrance by co-writer Max Apple, and it appears that he wanted to write a long love letter to his grandfather. That is a noble goal, but it simply does not work as a movie because there is never a clear enough sense of what this relationship is really supposed to be about. It certainly does not help that D. B. Sweeney seems to be dazed and bored through most of the film's running time. ROOMMATES had the potential to be a warm and sentimental film, and for about half an hour it has the right tone of good-natured whimsy. But for over an hour, it is little more than a bad soap opera: drawn-out, confused and maudlin.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 roommates: 4.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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