BOYS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 3.0 Alternative Scale: *1/2 out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 5/10/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:27 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Mature themes, profanity, violence) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Winona Ryder, Lukas Haas, John C. McGinley, Skeet Ulrich, James LeGros, Chris Cooper, Catherine Keener Director: Stacy Cochran Screenplay: Stacy Cochran Cinematography: Robert Elswit Music: Stewart Copeland U.S. Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
BOYS is a love story, or at least that's what the film makers would like us to believe. The problem is, there isn't much emotion present. In fact, it's a veritable wasteland of apathy. Not only don't the characters seem to feel anything genuine for each other, but we don't have any feelings for them. Love stories, no matter how unconventional, need to draw viewers in, not distance them. With its unpleasant, uncomfortable tone, BOYS keeps us at arm's length. As a result, the majority of this film is a trial to sit through.
This is the first movie in a long time where Winona Ryder gives a sub-par performance. Throughout the whole of BOYS, the actress looks befuddled. Of course, given the quality of the script and the lack of intelligence behind some of the lines she has to utter, that's understandable. She plays Patty Vare, a twenty-five year old who is knocked unconscious in a fall from a horse. When she comes to, she is being cared for by John Baker (Lukas Haas), a high school student at a local boys' school. John has smuggled her into his room, where he offers her food and rest. But, when his friends find out that he's hiding a woman and threaten to expose him to school authorities, John and Patty go for a car ride. They end up at an amusement park, where banal conversation and unconvincing glances lead to a first kiss. However, Patty is harboring a secret that could doom their fledgling relationship.
BOYS is so slow, so dumb, and so distasteful that it's difficult to believe it ever got made (not to mention that an actress of Ryder's distinction agreed to appear). The movie doesn't offer one likable, or even pleasantly offbeat, character. John smirks too much. Patty, despite being physically attractive, is a cipher. And the other boys at John's school are either morons, jerks, or a combination of the two. Wading through this plot is like trudging through molasses.
Don't even stop to think about what motivates the inhabitants of Stacy Cochran's film. There's no rhyme or reason to most of what anyone does. In the beginning, when Patty is alone in a bathroom at the boys' school, one wonders why she doesn't just run away. Presumably, it's because she's too busy having flashbacks of the pre-horseback riding disaster that got her stuck in her current predicament. We get the whole story piecemeal, but, by the end, when the last bits are revealed, we no longer care. Patty and John have long since worn out their welcome.
Cochran displayed a talent for the unusual with her debut feature, MY NEW GUN. Although that movie fell apart in the second half, it had a promising start. BOYS can't even boast that much. This one is a loss from the beginning, and, while I'll admit there's potential in the premise of a high school student falling for a mysterious older woman, Cochran never does anything interesting or appealing with the core idea. As for what the movie is called... well, the title may be lame, but the movie is lamer.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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