SEARCH AND DESTROY
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
(1995) *1/2 (out of four)
A bizarre play becomes a bizarre movie. SEARCH AND DESTROY is about a no-talent guy who wants to turn a bad book into a low-budget movie -- so it's at least partially autobiographical. But it's never more than partially watchable and partially interesting. Griffin Dunne plays the no-talent guy, a second-billed Rosanna Arquette his bitchy wife in the first five minutes of the movie. After that, Christopher Walken enters the picture as a businessman / drug dealer who also loves the book Dunne wants to make into a movie and promises to back him if he runs a few deals for him.
The author of the book is strange Dr. Dennis Hopper, who does those inspirational late-night informercials. After Hopper and his assistant (Ethan Hawke) kick Dunne out of his offices, Hopper's assistant (Illeana Dougas, the hockey-skating sister from TO DIE FOR) ends up falling in love with Dunne and slips him a backstage pass to see Hopper, after which he gets kicked out again. Dunne's only hope (not for his career; he doesn't have any hope left there) is to get $500,000 for the movie rights from Walken and his crazed dealer friend John Tuturro, who looks exactly like Kenny G here.
It may sound interesting to you -- it did to me, that's why I rented it -- but SEARCH AND DESTROY never rises above the level of mediocre and spends most of its running time far beneath that level. The big draw is the cast, but Arquette, Hawke and Turturro all have five minutes screen time or less, despite being billed above the title. Walken and Hopper in a movie doesn't guarantee quality (think of NICK OF TIME and WATERWORLD) and Douglas, who actually gives a best performance of the movie, isn't mentioned anywhere on the video box. The movie never delivers on its promise to be a scathing satire of Hollywood (a la THE PLAYER), but instead gains irony by illustrating just how substandard many current-release movies are.
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