The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 07, 1980, Page Page 10, Image 10
Hon Carey and Uom ue/u/se
Fatso J
*
*
is a bore *
*
*
By David Baker ^
Gamecock Film Critic 3^What
can you say about a movie *
like Fatso? That it is bigger than a *
breadbox and shorter than ^ Hh^P
Apocalypse Now? That in it, Dom ^ ||llliK
ueLinse, tor me nrsi time in nis * |H^Bg
life, is not funny? Jf
WELL, YOU CAN SAY all that, *
but it would be simpler and more T
accurate to say that Fatso is yet
another one of those goodintentioned,
but painfully overzealous
comedies which tries hard *
for Mel Brooks, but which ends up J HNfc
with something closer to Otto J Bflr
Preminger. To say that Anne * ?
Bancroft's' directorial debut is a *
bust Avoiifd be the understatement Jf '
of the year. J __
Briefly'," Fatso is the story of J
Dominick DiNapoli (DeLuise), a J
pudgy greeting card shop owner.
The film opens with Dom attending )f
the funeral of an elephantine
cousin who died at 39 because of his +++++++
weight problem. Afraid that P
> Dominick might be next, his sister
Antionette (Bancroft) demands
that he go on a diet.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS an endless '
series of shots depicting people MV'E#!
eating, people crying and people
becoming upset because someone
else is either eating or crying.
Eventually, Dominick loses a bit of
tonnage and wins the hand of a BH iwr
dippy antique dealer (Candice
Azzara), but by the time it hap- JHT jg
pens, no one much seems to care. H J|
Aside from Bancroft's write-by- ^ Mm
numhprc Hialnonp Pntcn cnfforc
from Bancroft's not having a
distinct point of view as director. ^
She follows scenes of attempted
hilarity about hungry blimps with
scenes showing fat people as ^
creatures deserving of pity. The
viewer never knows when he's
supposed to laugh or when he's
supposed to cry. Thus, only the
most gullible moviegoers sue- .
combs to either emotion.
What is unforgivable, however,
is that Bancroft succeeds in :
drawing a bad performance from hou.uh
Anne Bancroft. I didn't think such u,CiV'
a thing was possible, but her
A ? ? 1 - f 4-1- A. A. ?
puiuayai 01 miuoneue wavers
between hamminess and
stridency. And to top it off, she's Confirm
made up to look like a second-rate "romV":
verSioifi of Carol Burnett's char- puces m
woman, f' tickets
IN THE PAST , Bancroft's dark I
good looks and elegant manner I '?cc.V,H.'
- , ? Icelamij
made her everv aDDearance i
V mm - I ??tM I H
something to look forward to, ( <?ii in
whether she was portraying a i !",,"frcc
villainess (Mrs. Robinson in The i
Graduate ), a heroine (Annie
Sullivan in The Miracle Worker ), j
or a woman who was something in J ' . tc>s
Kalmnan /LVnmo in T !
ikayiw wii i ljiiiiiiu in if itr i lit runn .
n . I State
Point). !
4'' Who would have thought such a 7 J
wonderful actress dreamed of J /%
playing a shopping bag lady? I ?tjj
?' |
% 9
exchange threats in 'Fatso'
f.3fl************************* I
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