BREATHING ROOM
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 4.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: Fall 1996 (limited) Running Length: 1:30 MPAA Classification: No MPAA Rating (Sexual situations, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Susan Floyd, Dan Futterman, Nadia Dajani, Stryker Hardwicke,
David Thornton
Director: Jon Sherman
Producer: Tim Perell
Screenplay: Tom Hughes and Jon Sherman from a story by Tom Hughes
Cinematography: Jim Denault
Music: Pat Irwin
U.S. Distributor: Arrow Releasing
BREATHING ROOM, a low-budget feature film from first-time director Jon Sherman, is a rickety romantic comedy that, in trying to be offbeat, ends up being offputting. This hopelessly contrived movie attempts to make all sorts of witty, insightful comments about the nature and development of sexual and romantic liaisons in modern America. Alas, most of the supposedly clever dialogue turns out to be trite, and the characters are neither endearing nor particularly interesting.
As we're told in the perfunctory voiceover that opens BREATHING ROOM, Kathy (Susan Floyd) and David (Dan Futterman) have an atypical relationship. They can't stay together, but they can't stay apart. In the two years since they first met, they've broken up and gotten back together five times. Of course, they're complete opposites. She's a career-oriented woman who likes to have an ordered life. He's a layabout who can't stand "real" jobs and appreciates spontaneity. He's also allergic to commitment -- he can say "I love you" in fifteen different languages, but the words get caught in his throat whenever he tries to express that sentiment in English.
Twenty minutes into BREATHING ROOM, Kathy and David are on the verge of another breakup. To forestall this, they decide to spend four weeks apart -- the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. No conversations, no meetings (planned or chance), and no phone calls. The idea is that, by the end of the period, they'll know whether they're really meant to be together, or whether they should separate for good.
One of the many problems with BREATHING ROOM is that it doesn't present us with likable or well-developed characters. Kathy and David are flung up on the screen without much concern for how the audience will react to them. They come across as extremely self-centered and distant, and I never accepted them or believed their glib dialogue. Obviously, Sherman and his co-writer, Tom Hughes, are fans of TV sit- coms like SEINFELD and FRIENDS, because their characters speak with the rhythms of those shows. Such repartee becomes taxing in a full-length motion picture.
In fact, the entire movie has a TV-like feel to it. It's artificial and clunky. BREATHING ROOM doesn't offer much in the way of emotional appeal, either. I found myself not caring whether Kathy and David resolve their differences. With the exception of a couple of nicely-crafted scenes, their feelings come across as shallow and insincere. The "big" emotional payoff at the end isn't rewarding because of an ineffective build-up. Sherman has taken too many wrong turns by this point for one scene to redeem his entire movie.
The first line in BREATHING ROOM is "Paris in the Springtime's got nothing on New York at Christmas." In keeping with this statement, Sherman's film gives us an idealized vision of the United States' largest city. It's a bright, sparkling fairytale land, decked out in Christmas lights and curiously absent of crowds. This isn't the genuine, bustling metropolis of New York, so it's only fitting that the characters in BREATHING ROOM bear only a cursory resemblance to any Generation X-ers that inhabit the real world.
Susan Floyd and Dan Futterman (Robin Williams' son in THE BIRDCAGE), both stage actors, do the best they can with the material, but it's a thankless job. BREATHING ROOM's deep-rooted flaws have their origins in the script, and even the best actors couldn't have saved this project (although, admittedly, a little more chemistry might have made it seem less cold and remote). As romantic comedies go, BREATHING ROOM is a sad and unappealing affair, and extremely unlikely to evoke the warm glow that even the most modest entry into the genre strives for.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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