UNSTRUNG HEROES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Family tragedy gives a twelve-year-
old the opportunity to choose between the
rationality of his father and the weirdness of his
two unbalanced uncles in a sentimental but muddled
story. The first dramatic feature film directed by
Diane Keaton will strike a responsive chord in
some, but it actually is not a very good piece of
story-telling. Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4)
It is a lesson we tend to see a lot in the media. Road Runner cartoons tell us that technology does not work. In STAR TREK we learn that being logical like Spock can be useful but, it is better to be emotional. Data teaches us that being human is the ultimate to whicha machine can aspire. LITTLE MAN TATE, directed by Jodie Foster, showed us that child prodigies turn into twisted monsters who concoct experiments involving "lasers, sulphuric acid, and butterflies." Now another actress-turned-director, Diane Keaton, tells us a story of how in the face of family tragedy, two uncles, even ones with obvious mental problems, who are emotional are more comforting than a genius father who insists on being strictly rational.
In 1962 Steven Lidz (played by Nathan Watt) is the twelve-year-old product of a loving but strange family. His father, Sid (John Turturro), is an inventor and an eccentric genius constantly involving the children in fanciful creations that never seem to work out. The kids at school claim that Steven's father is an alien from another planet, an idea that Selma Lidz (Andie MacDowell), Steven's mother, does not completely discount. But Sid and Selma are so much in love that Selma overlooks the outright weirdness of her husband. She is not quite so willing to overlook the eccentricities of Sid's two very strange brothers, Danny (Michael Richards) and Arthur (Maury Chaykin). One is a super-paranoid; the other is just an adult with the mind of a child. In day-to-day family life Sid's cold, atheistic rationality is made bearable for the children by Selma's warm, loving care and attention. But when Selma becomes sick and cannot provide that warmth, the stress of the household becomes too much for young Steven and he runs away to live with uncles Danny and Arthur. There he discovers his uncles were stranger than he ever realized, but also finds them lovable.
Just why the craziness of the uncles is so wonderful or why it transforms Steven is never explained. And that is an important weakness of the film. The anti-rationality of the film would be onlya minor irritation, but for the film failing to make a case for its side yet still smugly declaring victory.
The acting is really not bad, particularly in the performances of Turturro and Richards as brothers. And while both performances seem a little exaggerated, Keaton does manage to suggest common threads in the two brothers' manias. Curiously, the male roles are better drawn and acted than the one major female role. MacDowell's character is just a bit too wonderful in a mistaken attempt to make her sickness a little more tragic.
But the big mistake of the film is to make so clear that contact with the crazy uncles was terrific for young Steven without giving the viewer much reason to understand why it was so good. Without filling in that blank the film has no chance to resonate. The only conclusion the viewer can draw is that rationality is a cold dead end. And that is a theme we see all too often already. I give this one a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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