RECKLESS
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Even a fairy tale about Christmas has to have some continuity, some explanation of the whats and whys of the story. RECKLESS does not seem to have any of that.
The film opens Christmas Eve with Rachel (Mia Farrow) lying in bed with her husband Tom (Tony Goldwyn), snuggling up to him and chattering happily away. Not being able to understand one word of what she was saying I assumed it was the fault of the screening room's sound or I had gone deaf. Luckily the explanation came soon when Tom tells Rachel that he can no longer stand her giggling babbling and had put out a contract on her to have her killed. After the confession, he also tells her that he took out a $100,000 insurance policy on her life. That is the end of the understandable part of the film; the rest is a hodgepodge that is the fault of the director, the screen writer and/or the editor. (Norman Ren, Craig Lucas, and Michael Berenbaum, respectively.)
Outside the house, the snow is piled high but when she opens the window and climbs onto the sill, her husband gently but firmly shuts the window on her so that she goes sliding down the snow-covered roof and onto the ground ... unhurt, of course. This is, after all, a fairy tale.
Later she is in a phone booth when she is approached by a Lloyd, (Scott Glenn) who takes her to his home where she meets his wife, Pooty (Mary-Louise Parker) who is in a wheel chair as she is a paraplegic who, for good measure, is also a deaf mute. That she talks and hears, a bit later in the film, was not explained ... at least, not to me.
One weird incident follows another without any rhyme or reason that I could ascertain. The press kit mentions Candide but Voltaire would have a lot to say about that.
The supporting cast includes Eileen Brennan, Giancarlo Esposito and Stephen Dorf.
1 byte (because I am feeling generous.)
4 Bytes = Superb
3 Bytes = Too good to be missed.
2 Bytes = So so.
1 Byte = Save your money.
-- Ben Hoffman
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