The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 25, 1994, Page 30, Image 30
Harris saves
LIGHTS, CAMERA, REACTION i
By Stephen Brown *
When you put pre-adolescent boys together, on the ]
brink of some of the biggest changes they will face in
life, there are almost always two topics brought up in j
conversation: girls and sex.
Richard Benjamin's new comedy Milk Money fol- j
lows three inquisitive boys who formulate a plan at a :
spend-the-night party: Desperate to see a real naked
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woman, mey noia a iuna raiser ai scnooi aim uuwe mc
money to the big city. After several rejections from
women who find the kids' proposition less than ap- <
propriate, the three meet a hooker named V, who ]
needs the money and sees the innocence of the boys'
quest. She obliges, discreetly of course, assuming she
will never see them again. "You all aren't hairy enough
to be dangerous," she tells them.
Since the boys' bikes get stolen, V gives them a ride
back to their suburban neighborhood and drops them
off into Norman Rockwell Land. Her eyes light up as
she sees happy families, but she knows she will never
be a part of this world.
T J+fln finao oV>q trinw that oho is Haalincr with Frank
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(Michael Patrick Carter) who has never had a mother
and thinks she will be a perfect wife for his father
Tom (Ed Harris of The Firm) to marry his newfound
lady friend. Convinced V is a math tutor, the reclusive
scientist Tom begins to date her and feels himself
coming to life again. Meanwhile, Frank hides V
Willis bombs i
LIGHTS, CAMERA, REACTION
By Stephen Brown
Bruce Willis' latest action film is a change of pace
from his usual shoot 'em up adventures. It is a change
of pace so highly calculated that minutes, even seconds,
become accentuated to grand proportions as
rampant boredom kicks in at varying velocities.
Billed as an erotic thriller to draw in the Basic Instinct
crowd and co-starring the sexy Jane March to
add more bang for the buck, Color of Night is a
bland void of inconsequential activity by shallow characters.
Willis plays Dr. Bill Capa, who flees New York an
emotionally-scarred man when one of his group therapy
patients kills herself. Hoping to start anew, he
visits an old friend (Scott Bakula) who's a psychiatrist
in LA But Capa soon finds his friend dead as well,
and all clues point to a Monday Night therapy group,
which Capa believes consists of "four neurotics of varying
degrees and one killer."
While Capa takes on these cases to continue his
friend's clinic, he probes them for information leading
to the identity of the murderer. The group consists of
an obsessive-compulsive lawyer, a nymphomaniac
questioning her sexuality, a disturbed older gentle
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n his treehouse to protect her from vindictive street t
;hugs and takes her to class as a visual aid for his hu- i
nan sexuality class. After all, dad always said to re- <
ate what you learn in class to the real world. 1
Ed Harris does an incredible job playing the giddy <
:ather who thinks he has finally found the "Grace Kel- (
[y* he has searched for so long. In V, Tom finds a 5
friend who shares his interest in seizing the excite- ,t
ment of nature's simple pleasures.
Complications arise, as they usually do, and Milk ]
Money certainly has its share of formulaic elements, j
The tender friendship between V and her newfound
'family" and the wide-eyed innocence of the young
boys fuels the film as a character study, but the film
still resorts to car chases and sideline action in an un
necessary attempt to pick up the pace, brilliant actor
Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) is wasted, .
reduced to a caricature as a high-profile crime lord
who wants payback.
Melanie Griffith will never be a great actress. Despite
a breakthrough performance as a woman who's
not all she seems in Something Wild and her Oscarnominated
turn as the secretary who beats the system
in Working Girl, she will always have a grating
high-pitched voice and a glimmer of uncertainty about
her. Audiences may have witnessed her recent blunders
as a spy in Shining Through, a cop in A Stranger
Among Us, and any number of missteps in an unmemorable
string of Don Johnson duds. And yet in
Milk Money she displays a vulnerability and a nurn
lackluster 'C
man, a gender ambiguous young man, and a highly
disturbed artist who's obsessed with one of his models.
This convention of the bizarre provides some humor
in a film desperate to make a connection with its
audience.
Meanwhile, as Capa nears an answer to the
murder mystery, he meets and falls in love with a
woman named Rose, played by March. Their sequences
of underwater lovemaking and music video
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anyone expecting a hint of real passion. March is
certainly beautiful, but she is far from a leading lady.
Images of her wearing only an apron, displaying
a prominent tattoo, and epjoying a total body
rubdown by a toy battle tank linger on after the film
is over, but memories of her acting are scarce indeed.
Willis acts his part with such subtlety that one is
hard pressed to sympathize with his plight or remotely
care about his pained life. It is certainly not a showy
role, unless you count the constant display of his muscles.
Spouting out lines such as "I cannot feel the pain
I'm supposed to be feeling now" and "If s just a game;
a dumb, deceitful game," his melancholy threatens to
derail the movie even before the bad script does.
His acting job almost looks good in comparison to
ON *.
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lilk Money*)
uring spirit that demonstrates she is maturing as an
ictress. Granted, her prostitute character is a work
>f pure fiction; but unlike Julia Roberts in Pretty
Woman, the character of V is definitely a product of Uj
;he streets. Her love for humanity whimpers and lat- Bj
jr screams to emerge to the surface, and the romance
ihe finds with the ideal of the American family serves ^
is her bridge to a better life. to
She teaches Frank confidence in himself and brings ^ei
romance back into Tom's life. Griffith, with her frizzy hu
hair and slinky frame, and Harris, with a balding head sh
and rugged face, make for a surprisingly down-to- a \
aarth couple. ha
Director Benjamin, who often resorts to inane j0i
physical comedy about preposterous situations (a to
house falling apart in The Money Pit and the sperm B1
bank mix-up of Made in America), still can't get over
his juvenile humor at times, but he has definitely so
crafted a sweet relationship between Griffith and Har- ne
ris as well as Griffith and the boy Carter. fil
Milk Money is a funny glimpse into confused Ws it
notions of family and friendship. Who would have Ki
guessed that a boy and his father who live off frozen in
dinners could be shaped up by a visiting prostitute?
Well, if s definitely not reality, but it sure makes for na
a cute and sometimes touching film. be
"If s not what you do; if s who you are," Tom tells Jy
his son. Sometimes you can grow up and still see the in
goodness in everyone.
olor of Night' I
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others. Almost every member of the therapy group cr
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clenching their teeth, they are completely unbeliev- Sl
able fictional creations who are too easily generalized w
The underwhelming direction by Richard Rush
(The Stunt Man) and the writing by Matthew Chap- |
man and Billy Ray add to the film's weaknesses. The |
screenplay includes lines such as Tor a shrink, you're
pretty dense" and "Stop trying to tear off the scabs?
let the demons rest."
Worse still is a musical score completely mismatched
to the sequences it accompanies. Like a badly
battered musicbox, the score cranks out terrible music
until you almost can't take it anymore. At one
point, Willis and March sing to each other before bed,
convincing me thoroughly that they shouldn't just quit
their day jobs.
Color of Night is a ludicrous, schlocky piece of pulp
trash with few redeeming features. The generic car
chases, the misconceived lesbian love sequence, and
a showdown with a nail gun top the list of scenes that
make you wonder why the movie was made in the first
place. Only a few twists and turns and an occasional
dose of wit reassured me that the filmmakers were |
not completely colorblind when they green-lighted its
creation.
~11?~
: Information S
. I to be Offen
IX I 1995 Scholai
I U I Fellowships am
ftI I The Office of Summer
I Scholarships will be off<
1 tion Sessions on prestigi
f ties for advanced acade
:ing leam more about criteri
I tion process for the foil
^ I ships, plan to attend an In
sion. Faculty and staff mi
4/ I present to explain the r
I quirements of individual
| All Information Sessior
tZ- f at 4 p.m. in the Gress<
I the third floor in Harp
I the Horseshoe.
i ns I , , ? ? ? , .
Marshall Scholi
ore! Thursday, September 1
1 A highly competitive sc
u I Marshall provides two ye
Fi I a university in Great Brit
| ing students. Candidati
maintained a GPA of 3.7
- sess a record of service a
| be well informed on glol
be no older than 25 years
offer^ I I 1994. Allowances includi
I cost of living expenses, be
to and from the US.
Wi
TIQn I Fulbright Gran
Tuesday. September 13
I Grants are available to ?
niors who propose a cle;
study to be carried out i
academic setting abroad.
must be essential to the re
proposed. Fluency in the
lease. ~ , , ,
is preferred and a strong 1
American culture and hos
rent events are critical
Mayans sho<
n superhert
BHTS, CAMERA, REACTION tei
> Stephen Brown
Damon Wavans has made a lousy ^
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insition to the big screen. He seemed
be a budding superstar during his ^
lure on television's In Living Color, SP
t the film career following his series la
nt has brought him full circle to form gi
)ig fat zero. After Mo' Money, he could
ive hung it up, but instead he dons re
lg underwear and a patchwork cape th
fight crime in the superhero spoof ej
lankman. jg
Soaring incredibly low on the laugh
ale, Blankman is a pointless romp of
iar brain-numbing proportions. It is a
m with so little comedy to offer that
just sits there like a bad chunk of ^
Tptonite, with no effect on moviego- I1
g mortals. si
It is the story about a geeky kid w
imed Darrvl fWavans) who dreams of 01
sing a crime-fighting hero, constant- t\
sporting a cape and slowly distanc- w
g himself from reality. 0j
One day, as crime in the city is
saching a reckless fever pitch, he ^
langes into his costume in a Port-o- ^
>hn, solicits the help of his brother
)avid Alan Grier) as his unwilling 111
dekick, and emerges as Blankman, a P'
ime-fighting one-man neighborhood 4
atch program and completely witless 11
iperhero. So begins his quest, in oi
hich each j oke progressively falls flat- fi
""(Barii
, . Grants are calcul
>eSS10nS of travel to and f
?d OI1 living. Also incl
lowances and ti
'Snips, applicable.
d Grants
Programs and
sring Informa- Mellon FCi
ous opportuni- Humanisti
mic study. To ^ ,
, .. Thursday, Sept
a and aDDlicaT\,
The Mellon is
owing reiiow- , . ,. ?
f . 0 scholarship for i
formation Ses- _ 4
, .?, to a career of tea
embers will be .
j in a traditional
nents and re- , . ,
(not including c
programs. . . .
arts, social scie
?i * . ,j fields such as la
is will be held . , , x ?
? social work). S
2tte Room on
~ ? must present not
er College on , . ,
high GRE score,
of both teaching
. pucny iu cumuli
arship well. Awards in
medical coverage
:holarship, the
jars of study at
aintograduat- Xruman S(
es must have
or better, pos- Attention ?
nd leadership, Monday, Septer
bal issues and Juniors are encoti
as of October very competitr
e tuition, fees, Truman is awarde
)oks and travel outstanding leade
pursue careers in
service, and wis
school to prepare
I lowances incli
$30,000 for up te
, . undergraduate sti
graduating se- f ,
c years), plus 2 01
ar program of J , 1
. . study.
n o nirt ir?n I J
ii u pui uvuiai
The location
search project
host language For ]Vlore ]
background in The Office of Si
>t country cur- Scholarships is 1<
for selection, lege Rooms 303/
its blanks
> spoof
r on its face.
Blankman must confront the orgazed
crime scene of his metropolis as
ey threaten to take control of the city,
lis modern update of the superhero
oof has nothing new to offer except a
ndscape of crack houses and mugngs.
The only commentary which is even
motely in tune with society is that
iere is a need for a positive role modin
the inner city. But even that point
thwarted by this dorky, whining, anjying
hero with a flowered cape, red
ijamas, and wristband face mask.
I'm tired of low budget comedies
lat insult the audience's intelligence.
?uess we've reached that time of the
immer when studios had to decide
hether or not to unload their garbage
save it for later. With Airheads, In
le Army Now, and Blankman, Hollyood
is definitely scraping the bottom
'the cinematic barrel.
Wayans has nobody to blame but
iwoftlf amoA Vi*v WT*ifo onH nrft
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ace this mess as well. He would be
iuch better acting his age and apsaring
in a more adult realm of comey.
Instead, he is the centerpiece of a
lovie which is able to move audiences
it the exit door in a single bound while
ghting, screaming to get laughs.
ifrnrb
iated based on the costs
rom the US and cost of
uded are settling-in aluition
waivers, where
[lowship in
ic Studies
ember 15
a highly competitive
graduate work leading
Lching and scholarship
humanistic discipline
reative or performing
nces, or professional
w, library science and
uccessful candidates
only a high GPA and a
but also a philosophy
and learning and a ca
micate extraordinarily
elude travel, tuition,
and a monthly stipend.
:holarship ?
Juniors!!!
nber 19
iraged to apply for this
ve scholarship. The
;d to students who have
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;h to attend graduate
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ide a maximum of
) 4 years: 1-2 years of
Lidy (junior and senior
r 3 years of graduate
Information
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