JOEL SCHUMACHER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA, 2002. , Zucker/Netter Productions. Screenplay by Larry Cohen. Cinematography by Matthew Libatique. Produced by Gil Netter, David Zucker. Music by Harry Gregson-Williams. Production Design by Andrew Laws. Costume Design by Daniel Orlandi. Film Editing by Mark Stevens. Toronto International Film Festival 2002.
Colin Farrell plays a self-important, cocky celebrity publicist who acts like he’s a hot shot but is really just a bottom feeder. Thinking the world is completely taken in by his act, he is shocked into a reality check when a pay phone rings and a strange voice tells him that he is being targeted from a window across the street and is not allowed to go anywhere until he surrenders all the lies he has told to his wife (Radha Mitchell), mistress (Katie Holmes) and himself. When the sniper shoots a nearby pimp who is harassing Farrell, the police show up thinking him the killer and a national news event begins. The film features a clever concept, and Farrell does a pretty charismatic job for a role that requires him to stay in one place for an hour and a half, though his accent is distractingly inconsistent and his emotional monologue at the film’s climax, which is supposed to be the highlight of the film, badly edited. Joel Schumacher’s undetermined directorial style elicits bad performances from the ensemble cast, and an ending that is supposed to be ominous actually just feels like pure laziness.
