[Note that the follow-up is set to rec.arts.sf.written rather than rec.art.sf.movies. This was done on purpose. -Moderator]
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Your eyes may be playing tricks on you. The title of this movie is THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and not the World Wide Web. Many computer types will probably have to parse the name several times to get it right. This is a film not about the Net, but about someone known as "the greatest pulp fiction writer in the whole wide world." It is a true story based on the memoirs of the writer's lover and written almost a half a century later. The only real reason to see the film is to catch more of that new star from JERRY MAGUIRE, Renee Zellweger, in one of the movie's two leading roles.
Although it has a classic three tissue ending, the rest of the picture is a remarkably unmoving portrayal of two characters full of potential. As flat as the Texas prairie, the movie saves all of its emotional impact until the end.
Set in poor, rural Texas in 1935, Vincent D'Onofrio (from FEELING MINNESOTA and ED WOOD) plays Robert "Bob" E. Howard, the prolific pulp fiction writer who gave the world, CONAN, THE BARBARIAN among many other contributions. Renee Zellweger is school teacher, student, and unpublished writer Novalyne Price. Although Bob does not to seem to have all of his marbles and is viewed as the local eccentric by the town, she falls for his extroverted behavior and his literary success. Although he likes her, he is also mighty fond of his mama, played by Ann Wedgeworth (from A BURNING PASSION: THE MARGARET MITCHELL STORY).
The cinematography by Claudio Rocha is gorgeous. You may remember his stunning work in PICTURE BRIDE. Here he shows Texas as its best -- full of reddish golden colors. The prettiest images are the sunsets, but the forest canopy is warm and inviting as well. The best sequence has the camera pan down slowly from the highest branches to the seemingly insignificant people under them.
Making a living producing pulp fiction isn't easy. As Bob says, they "pay me only one half cent per word." But he copes. He reveals that his solution is, "I stretch it out; I'm verbose."
Bob is not prime date material. His idea of a good time is "drivin' and blabbin'," which he does frequently in the movie. Herein lies the major problem with the film. Screenwriter Michael Scott Myers rarely gives him anything to say worth hearing. Even if this stems from deficiencies in the book, Myers should have been able to fix it. This is compounded by Dan Ireland's meandering direction and Luis Colina's loose editing. There are the ingredients for a good movie here, but the mixture we are given does not gel.
The two leads give good performances, but the rest of the cast, especially all of Novalyne's women friends, are weak. I found the "Texan Spoken Here" sign at the soda fountain quite ironic since few of the characters even attempt an accent. Those that do come up with a weak, vaguely Southern accent. In a small Texas town before the advent of television, you can be sure that all the accents would have been so thick you could have cut them with a knife. I grew up in Garland, Texas, and know what small town Texas speech sounds like. This is not even close.
No matter how hard Zellweger and D'Onofrio try, the movie never made me care about their characters. Zellweger's part was made more earnest than touching by the script, and D'Onofrio's was reduced to quirkiness. In the finale, when it came time to break out the Kleenex, my eyes stayed dry. Some of people in the audience whimpered, but I was never more than intrigued by the film. A promising story, but a disappointing delivery.
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD runs 1:45. It is rated PG. There are a couple of mild cuss words, but no sex, nudity or violence. Given the mature themes, kids would probably have to be nine or ten to be interested in the show. Although the film has its moments, it is not compelling cinema. I give it a mild thumbs down and **.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 3, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews