KEYS TO TULSA
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 4.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 4/11/97 (limited) Running Length: 1:53 MPAA Classification: R (Nudity, violence, profanity, sex) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Eric Stoltz, James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Joanna Going, Michael Rooker, Mary Tyler Moore, James Coburn, Peter Strauss, Randy Graffi, Cameron Diaz Director: Leslie Greif Producers: Leslie Greif and Harley Peyton Screenplay: Harley Peyton Cinematography: Robert Fraisse Music: Stephen Endelman U.S. Distributor: Gramercy Pictures
Consider KEYS TO TULSA a preemptive strike by first-time director Leslie Greif and writer Harley Peyton (HEAVEN'S PRISONERS) for all the bad reviews their film is going to get. You see, the main character, played by the ubiquitous Eric Stoltz, is a movie critic, and, to put it mildly, he's an ineffectual moron. In addition to not being an admirable human being, he's not a very good critic -- he misses deadlines, doesn't seem to know much about film, and never sees the inside of a theater. So, if you're predisposed not to like critics, this is exactly the kind of scum you imagine we're all like.
Actually, it's not just Stoltz's Richter Boudreau who's a sleaze. Everyone else in the film fits into that category, too, and they all wear sunglasses, smoke cigarettes, and swill alcohol just to prove it (there's more booze here than in any film this side of LEAVING LAS VEGAS). The movie doesn't seem to know what to do with all these characters, so it throws them into a banal noir "thriller" that moves with the speed of molasses and covers ground so well-trodden that the footpath has widened into a highway. Everything in KEYS TO TULSA seems disconnected -- the people, the images, and even the various subplots. Of course, the script somehow manages to tie everything together into one neat package at the end. After all, there's nothing like a tidy, if implausible and anticlimactic, conclusion.
Richter, a reviewer for the Tulsa Journal, is clearly a ladies' man. After making the moves on a dim-but-curvaceous date (Cameron Diaz in a bizarre cameo), he emerges from work one day to find a blond draped across the hood of his car. She's Vicky Stover (Deborah Kara Unger), a former flame and the current wife of small-time dope dealer Ronnie (James Spader). She wants something from Richter, but it's not clear exactly what that "something" is. Ronnie wants something, too, but his motives are less murky. Richter owes him some money, and Ronnie intends to extract payment by getting his help in a blackmail scheme. Meanwhile, Vicky's rich brother, Keith (Michael Rooker), enlists Richter's aid when he believes that his sister is trying to steal his fortune from him. And Richter falls for an insecure stripper (Joanna Going) who's involved in Ronnie's blackmail plan. Throw in a dead body, a lot of bare flesh, and a few incriminating snapshots, and, voila!, you have a by-the-numbers noir feature.
For a film with so many twists and turns, it's depressing how unsurprising KEYS TO TULSA actually is. The movie has the feel of something that's desperate to get somewhere, but keeps spinning its wheels. I think we're supposed to identify with the down-on-his-luck Richter, but it's hard to develop any sympathy for such an obvious loser whose woes are all his own doing. As for Richter's critical acumen-- he's the kind of guy who will sit through fifteen minutes of a movie then write a review as if he'd seen the whole thing.
Pity poor Deborah Kara Unger, who's once again stuck in a bad marriage to James Spader. While the relationship here is a little more traditionally dysfunctional than that in CRASH, it's no less unpleasant. At least Unger is less bland in this movie; she plays her role with a sultry abandon that, while totally over-the-top, has a prurient appeal. Meanwhile, Spader seems to be doing his best to impersonate Elvis. With his jet-black hair and sideburns, he's constantly primed to break out singing "Hound Dog."
Eric Stoltz, who's currently appearing in ANACONDA as well, seems lost in his role, probably because he's trying to play it straight while everyone around him is overacting to the hilt. Take Joanna Going (INVENTING THE ABBOTTS), for example. While she has a couple of sweetly effective scenes with Stoltz (such as the breakfast sequence where his eyes are "mesmerized" by the flashes of skin her loose-fitting shirt affords him), her big, emotional moments are painful to watch. And Michael Rooker never attempts to bring any subtlety to his brash, constantly-drunk character. The "colorful" supporting cast includes Mary Tyler Moore as Richter's mother, James Coburn as the richest man in Tulsa, and Peter Strauss as a lawyer.
One thing KEYS TO TULSA succeeds at (besides developing a suitably dark atmosphere, which is necessary for any film of this genre, no matter how uninspired) is reminding us how truly effective films like BLOOD SIMPLE and BOUND are. It has always been true that it takes inept motion pictures to highlight the strengths of their better antecedents, and this is a case in point. Ultimately, KEYS TO TULSA doesn't open any new doors.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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