Trees Lounge (1996)
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 2.5 Alternative Scale: * out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: beginning 10/11/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:35 MPAA Classification: R (Language, mature themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Mark Boone Junior, Carol Kane, Chloe Sevigny, Elizabeth Bracco, Anthony LaPaglia, Danny Baldwin, Eszter Balint, Debi Mazar Director: Steve Buscemi Producers: Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley Screenplay: Steve Buscemi Cinematography: Lisa Rinzler Music: Evan Lurie U.S. Distributor: Orion Pictures Classics
I like Steve Buscemi. I really do, which is why it's such an disagreeable task to write a review that condemns his directorial debut as a waste of film. I'm not talking about a good idea gone awry, I'm referring to something that's rotten to the core. If I hadn't been preparing to write a review, I would have walked out on this one. It's a pointless, lackluster, unpleasant character study of a bunch of pointless, lackluster, unpleasant people who sit around a bar all day. Imagine CHEERS with all the comedy and life drained away and you'll have an idea what TREES LOUNGE is like.
Buscemi has starred for some of the best young talent in independent cinema: Quentin Tarantino (RESERVOIR DOGS), the Coen Brothers (FARGO), and Tom DiCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION). Apparently, he wasn't paying attention to their methods of direction, however, because nothing appears to have rubbed off. TREES LOUNGE, despite its nods to John Cassavetes, is stillborn. I find it somewhat astonishing that Buscemi managed to round up such a respectable cast (which includes cameos by the likes of Michael Imperioli, Seymour Cassel, and Samuel L. Jackson) and secure a distributor.
Supporters of this film will undoubtedly claim that it's an examination of a middle-aged man going nowhere -- a portrait of the wasted life of a rootless individual. I can't argue with that, but I'm not sure what the point is of putting the audience through such a shallow and tiresome account. It's not interesting. It's not entertaining. There are some attempts at humor, but, for the most part, they don't work. It's one thing to have a slow moving story with a compelling character. It's quite another to have the situation that exists here: a nonexistent plot about a man who means nothing to us.
We meet Tommy (Buscemi) in a suburban New York City bar called Trees Lounge, watch him hit on the bartender (Carol Kane), and see him pal it up with another regular (Mark Boone Junior). A little later, he goes and stands outside the garage where he used to work as a mechanic. His former boss, Rob (Anthony LaPaglia), accosts him, and the two almost come to blows before Tommy's pregnant ex-girlfriend (Elizabeth Bracco), who is Rob's current squeeze, breaks it up. So Tommy goes back to the bar, tries to snort some cocaine (it's a running gag that something always comes up to prevent him from doing the drug), fails in an attempt to pick up a girl, then ends up in bed alone. And so it goes=85
For a few minutes, just past the midpoint, the movie turns interesting. Tommy becomes romantically involved with his ex- girlfriend's seventeen year old niece, Debbie (Chloe Sevigny, from KIDS). She's the only worthwhile character in this whole mess, but her predictable relationship with Tommy is never well-developed, and we're left wondering whether they slept together or just "made out like a couple of teenagers". The resolution of this situation, like almost everything else in TREES LOUNGE, is dissatisfying. Debbie's father runs after Tommy with a baseball bat. If you want to see a thoughtful examination of an older man/young girl relationship, check out Dennis Hopper and Amy Locane in CARRIED AWAY. That film shows how clumsily Buscemi handles similar material.
There's more that I could say about TREES LOUNGE, but my words would be nasty and repetitious, so why bother? As it is, I've wasted more time and ink on the movie than it's worth. I hate to be so negative, but better luck next time, Steve. This one's a real dud.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
"We go away from our parents in youth and then we gradually come back to them; and in that moment, we have grown up." -- Ingmar Bergman
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