Playing God (1997)

reviewed by
Jamie Peck


PLAYING GOD
RATING: ** (out of ****) 

Touchstone / 1:33 / 1997 / R Cast: David Duchovny; Timothy Hutton; Angelina Jolie; Michael Masse; Peter Stormare; Gary Dourdan; John Hawkes Director: Andy Wilson Screenplay: Mark Haskell Smith

A weak star vehicle for an otherwise strong star, "Playing God" will probably spend several weeks competing in the autumn box office before being remembered only as David Duchovny's iffy first lead in a motion picture. It's a bloody good thing he's got the likely sting-erasing "X-Files" film slated for release this upcoming summer, because "Playing God" is as frivolous and forgettable as movies come.

Duchovny plays Eugene Sands, a pill-popping Los Angeles surgeon who loses his licence after operating on a patient while high on amphetamines. After flaunting his medical valor on a dying bar patron, he attracts the attention of violent crime boss Raymond Blossom (Timothy Hutton), a bleached blonde bad boy with a decidedly non-bad boy name. The two reach an agreement -- Eugene will be sated financially (and habitually) in turn for providing his services as a "gunshot doctor" for Raymond, treating his wounded associates when a hospital stay would be too risky. But Eugene takes some risks of his own when he become's enamored with his new employer's girlfriend Claire (Angelina Jolie).

Even though most post-"Pulp Fiction" 1990s crime thrillers are hip to a fault, they can still attain memorable levels by at least being superior in flash and fashion. The surprising thing about "Playing God" is how it never seems to try to achieve much in either of those departments -- it's empty in both style and substance. Not only is the story totally predictable and cliched, but so are the devices through which it's told. "Playing God" utilizes such overworked genre staples as slow-motion and hard-boiled narration ("On the way home tonight, I will not get high," laments Eugene about trying to end his drug problem).

Because "Playing God" often alternates unsuccessfully between the serious and the silly, you're left wishing it would have been explicitly one or the other. The dramatic scenes don't work because the movie fails to deal with Eugene's habit in a satisfying way -- it's a plot device -- and ends up offering little in the way of a resolution. The funny stuff sometimes gels better (including a pointless episode where Duchovny hangs out with the crowd at a redneck country bar), but ultimately, "Playing God" is as campy as an episode of the Adam West "Batman" series -- and just about as compelling, too.

The performers are what save the show from being a total wash-out, though. Duchovny demonstrates the charisma and canny sex appeal that serve him so well on "The X-Files." Hutton, one of the most underrated -- and underused -- actors working today, has a considerable amount of fun as the escalatingly psychotic villain. Jolie, the daughter of Jon Voight, serves frustratingly little purpose other than to get the two men fighting, but sports a seductive, pleasant screen presence anyway.

"Playing God" isn't distinguished in the least, but that shortcoming is to be expected when a movie sets out on the wrong foot from virtually the first frame on. Not much else can be said for a serio-comedy that has you chuckling when you're not supposed to and groaning when you are. "Playing God" isn't awful by most means, but it's not at all special, either.

© 1997 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/


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