RESTORATION
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Miramax)
Directed by Michael Hoffman
Written by Rupert Walters
Cast Robert Downey Jr., Sam Neill, David Thewlis, Polly
Walker, Meg Ryan, Ian McKellen, Hugh Grant
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for sexual content and grim medical
stuff)
Running Time 113 Minutes
Reviewed at The Colony Twin, Raleigh, NC (4FEB96)
==
Epic historical dramas are so rare, these days, that even the emotionally-empty RESTORATION may find itself an audience. There's very little weight behind this 17th Century story of an English physician (Robert Downey Jr.) who finds his faith tested by the King (Sam Neill), a fellow practitioner (David Thewlis), and a mentally-ill commoner (Meg Ryan). The running time is a wig's hair under two hours, and yet it feels like four. Nobody in Michael Hoffman's film commands any presence, least of all Downey, who appears in nearly every single scene. (The Big Cast also includes Hugh Grant, who, apparently, is now required to appear in at least three period pieces per year. Maybe it's part of his sentence.) The opulent set design and detailed costumes are about as exciting as it gets. Though there's never a shortage of story-- the plot churns away merrily from the very first scene-- the absence of even a *single* interesting character turns the title into an apt description of what most viewers will be attempting with regard to the blood flow to their buttocks. Boring.
Grade: C-
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC
legeros@nando.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w)
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