6/7/15 (Part One): Justifying Those Means

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Alan Dershowitz, Amanda Crew, Bill Guttentag, Brooke Newton, Carrie-Anne Moss, Chris Lehane, Chris Mulkey, cinema, corrupt politicians, Davey Havok, David Harbour, dramas, Eddie George, Eric McCormack, feature-film debut, film reviews, films, Frankie Shaw, idealism, Jamie Chung, Jennifer Morrison, John McGowan, Julie Bowen, Knife Fight, Movies, multiple writers, political satire, political scandals, political strategist, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe, Robert Dalva, Robert George Nelson, Saffron Burrows, Shirley Manson, Sister Bliss, Stephen Kazmierski, writer-director

Well-intentioned but more than a little predictable and stiff, writer-director Bill Guttentag’s Knife Fight (2012) is aided immeasurably by a grip of strong performances, led by Rob Lowe’s central spin doctor and his various troubled clients. While the film never breaks any new ground and wraps up with an almost ridiculously happy bit of wish-fulfillment,  it ends up being a brisk, enjoyable watch, polished and refined but with just enough sharp edges to draw a bit of blood, from time to time. Fans of Lowe’s particular style, however, could do a whole lot worse.

Kicking off with an effective montage of political juggernauts through the ages, scored by Jimmy Cliff’s sunny “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” we quickly meet hot-shot political strategist/spin-guru Paul Turner (Lowe) and his faithful assistant, Kerstin (Jamie Chung, who also serves as our narrator). When we first catch up with Paul and Kerstin, their team are juggling a couple of burgeoning crises for a pair of wunderkind politicians: Governor Larry Becker (Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack) has been having an affair with his wide-eyed intern, Helena (Amanda Crew), and the story is just about to break wide, while Senator Stephen Green (David Harbour) has been accused of improper conduct by a masseuse, Tawny (Brooke Newton), with priors for prostitution.

As if that’s not enough to juggle, Paul and Kerstin also go meet with Dr. Penelope Nelson (Carrie-Anne Moss) as a favor to her brother, who also happens to be Paul’s old roommate. Turns out that Dr. Nelson, a crusading do-gooder who runs a free clinic dedicated to homeless people, wants to run for Governor of California and wants Paul and his team to help her. She’s idealistic, honest, eager to help and committed to change, which pretty much makes her the worst bet for a politician, ever. Paul tells her so but Dr. Nelson won’t take no for an answer, determined to win over the cynical spin doctor and turn him to her cause.

For Paul, “business as usual” involves any number of shady, suspicious or down-right “sub-legal” methods, all ably handled by his crack support staff, including Kerstin, his audio/video expert, Jimmy (AFI’s Davey Havok) and Dimitris Vargas (Richard Schiff), the shadowy operative who conducts the majority of Paul’s dirty work. When all else fails, Paul can always turn on the ol’ charm, as evidenced by his on-again/off-again romance with star TV reporter Peaches O’Dell (Julie Bowen), in order to get what he wants.

As more and more problems develop, however, Paul becomes increasingly disenchanted with a job that often involves smearing and “destroying” innocent people as a means to produce a better outcome: although the politicians, themselves, are corrupt assholes, Paul genuinely believes in their individual platforms and sees them as genuine vessels for real change and progress…if they could just learn to keep their flies zipped, that is. At one point, Paul equates what they do to drone warfare: they never even see the “collateral damage” of people like the Governor’s intern, so can’t think of them as “real people.”

With Paul’s actions becoming more and more difficult to justify (for him or anyone around him), he’s constantly confronted with the paradox that is Dr. Penelope Nelson, a figure who seems to be almost preternaturally pure and sincere. As Paul begins to see Dr. Nelson’s campaign as his ultimate route to salvation and inner peace, he must also confront his long-held beliefs about the need to run a dirty campaign and the inherent corruption of the American political system. Will he end up telling Dr. Nelson to “bring a gun to a knife fight” or will Paul, finally, be able to set aside all the bullshit and run an honest, genuine campaign? Is the old saying really true or, for a change, will the nice guys finish first?

With an intelligent, fast-paced script (courtesy of the director and Chris Lehane) and loads of solid performances, Knife Fight is an exceptionally painless watch, even if the film never really comes up with anything new to add to the debate. In essence, this is the same tale of “moral redemption in soulless job X” that we’ve seen more times in the past than can be counted, with an underlying thread of optimism that marks the film as a decidedly feel-good enterprise, despite the occasionally cynical tone and plot developments.

If the scenario is nothing new, Knife Fight’s ensemble manages to breath quite a bit of life into the material. It’s always nice to see Lowe in something like this and his performance as Paul comes across as a more serious, under-handed version of his ludicrously chipper character in Parks & Recreation. There’s enough nuance to allow for some personal growth but Paul, essentially, begins and ends as the same likable character. We might not always agree with his tactics but disliking Paul is about as easy as disliking a supremely cute kitten: pretty damn impossible.

Chung does a great job as Paul’s loyal assistant, although subplots about her sexual orientation and family background don’t really seem to go anywhere. Schiff, probably best known as Toby Ziegler on the West Wing, is solid as the shadowy Vargas, while Goth-punker Havoc is a ton of fun (and nearly unrecognizable) as the genius who whips up all of Paul’s political ads. Bowen and Burrows are good as the strong women who run the show behind the scenes, while Moss is quite believable as the idealistic candidate who just wants to make a difference. In a surprise bit of casting against type, McCormack does a bang-up job as the sleazy Governor, investing everything he says and does with so much smarm that he practically leaves a slug-trail. We also get a bit of stunt-casting with name-brand lawyer Alan Dershowitz serving as Tawny’s avaricious lawyer: needless to say, he completely owns the role.

Ultimately, Knife Fight is a good, enjoyable bit of political soap opera, although it lacks the extra “oomph” to really stick out from the pack: the film’s commentary never cuts quite deep enough, with a resolution that reminds of the golden age of Hollywood happy endings more than anything. That being said, Guttentag’s feature-film directorial debut has plenty of breezy charm, with the added benefit of Rob Lowe in a typically hard-charging performance. While precious little here should surprise anyone, there are times when a small, well-made and well-meaning film is its own reward. If you ever want to take a little vacation from the current reality of our political morass, fire up Knife Fight and give the good guys a chance to win, for once.

12/27/14 (Part Two): What a Richard!

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bad boyfriends, Bad Johnson, battle of the sexes, Cam Gigandet, cheating partners, cinema, comedies, detached penis, dick jokes, film reviews, films, Huck Botko, infidelity, Jamie Chung, Jeff Tetreault, Jessica Joy, Katherine Cunningham, Kevin Miller, men behaving badly, men vs women, Movies, Nick Thune, penis, personal trainers, Rich Johnson, sex comedies, wishes

While there’s certainly precedent for a film that combines crude sex comedy with sweet romance (after all, what better description could there possibly be for the Farrelly Brothers’ There’s Something About Mary (1998)?), it’s definitely a difficult tightrope to walk. On the one hand, the best, most outrageous and genuinely funniest crude comedies are always those that are allowed to go completely off-the-rails, unbound by any conventional notions of good taste or any attempt to toe some sort of a middle line. Sweetly romantic films, on the other hand, almost always operate best when we genuinely care about the people involved: if they’re too crude, obnoxious, slovenly or unlikable, it’s doubtful that audiences will be invested enough to care if they find true love or go back to online dating.

Huck Botko’s Bad Johnson (2014), rather than hewing strictly to one side or the other, clearly wants to have it both ways: while this (often) humorous tale of a serial philanderer’s attempt to get his penis back after it assumes human form and “runs away” features more dick jokes and sex talk than most films, it’s also decidedly good-natured and hinges on the kind of “storybook romance” that’s pretty standard for any number of faceless “date night” romantic comedies. In the end, however, Bad Johnson’s different facets don’t end up cohering as well as Butko might have intended, leaving us with a film that’s just slightly too polite and middle-of-the-road to be truly edgy but way too course and over-the-top to have much appeal to mainstream audiences.

Modern-day “it guy” Cam Gigandet stars as Rich Johnson (get it? huh? nudge nudge), a good-natured, mild-mannered and suitably hunky personal trainer who has just one little problem: it’s impossible for him to be faithful to any of the endless women he dates. Similar to Neil Patrick Harris’ ravenous Barney Stinson, Rich appears to be completely in thrall to his male member: it is, literally, impossible for him to resist the allure of a woman…any woman…at any time, place, ever. After getting kneed in the groin by a woman that he doesn’t recognize as a former “conquest,” Rich is ordered by the doctor to rest his “tool box” for six weeks. In the meantime, he meets and falls for Jamie (Jamie Chung): the process of waiting six weeks to do what normally takes hours forces Rich to re-examine his philandering ways, a process of self-discovery which goes out the window when he gets into a fender-bender with a “cougar” on his way to have sex with Jamie. He has sex with the older woman (natch), Jamie finds out (via teeth marks on his manhood) and another relationship is kaput.

After crying on best friend and fellow trainer Josh’s (Kevin Miller) shoulder, Rich wishes that his penis would just “leave him alone”: he can’t control it, so he just wants it gone. Faster than you can say “after-school special,” Rich wakes up the next morning to find his downstairs as smooth and featureless as a Ken doll. Still trying to process the bizarre new development, Rich gets a collect call from someone claiming to be his penis. Rich goes to pick up the mysterious caller after he relays information about Rich’s sexual history that only…well, his penis…could possibly know. Turns out that Rich’s missing member has assumed slovenly, bearded human form (comedian Nick Thune) and is none too happy about it: after all, it now needs to eat, relieve itself and do all of the other humiliating “human” things that penises don’t normally do. To add insult to injury, RP (as it likes to be called) even has his own penis…and it’s not even as impressive as RP used to be. The horror!

As can be expected, high-jinks ensue and RP ends up running wild around the city, humping anything and everything with impunity. Meanwhile, Rich learns to live without his troublesome penis (after a rather amusing montage in which he attempts various replacements) and even begins what seems to be a sweet, halting relationship with an attractive client (Katherine Cunningham). If there’s one thing that RP can’t handle, however, it’s true love: when Rich and Lindsay start to get serious, Rich’s wayward manhood decides to takes matters into his own hands and break the couple up, by hook or by crook. Will Rich ever be able to “tame” his penis? Will RP get the freedom and individuality that he so desperately craves? Can an unrepentant hound-dog ever settle down and find true love with just one woman or is a life of soulless, mechanical hook-ups the best he can ever hope for?

Despite a game cast and some genuinely funny moments, Bad Johnson never quite finds its footing: there’s always the sense that the film is pulling its punches, never quite as willfully offensive as it promises to be. Chalk it up to the way that Gigandet always comes across as a cute little puppy dog (despite the admittedly caddish behavior that he engages in) or the fact that the budding romance between Rich and Lindsay is so darn stereotypically sweet but the film never feels edgy, certainly an odd condemnation for any movie that features the human personification of someone’s penis.

The other side of the coin, of course, is that Bad Johnson is also too crude to have much merit for couples looking for a nice, quirky romantic comedy: any of the numerous scenes with Nick Thune being…well…a dick, I guess…push this just over the horizon into “uncomfortable” territory. It’s a matter of degrees, really, and Botko’s film just manages to err on either side of the “acceptable” line for this kind of thing.

I was also a little unsure of where the film wanted to land as far as the whole “guys being guys” issue goes. For most of the time, Botko and first-time screenwriter Jeff Tetreault seem to be mocking Rich’s inability to control his penis, which seems to be a commentary on the stereotypical male response to infidelity that guys “just can’t control themselves.” There’s something suitably ridiculous about someone who would rather be a eunuch than attempt to exert any self-control over his libido and genitalia. On the other hand, the film hands with Rich promising to be faithful to Lindsay, despite his revelation that he’ll still be ogling anything with boobs because “he’s still a guy.” It’s sort of a “have your cake and eat it, too” moment, which isn’t really surprising in a film that seems to be predicated on this sort of compromise: there’s a weird notion of wanting to placate both a male and female audience, simultaneously, which ends up making about as much sense as it sounds. Again, there are definitely ways to pull off this kind of “battle of the sexes” commentary (just look at something like the recent Force Majeure (2014) for evidence of this) but Bad Johnson just doesn’t have the wherewithal to make it work.

In a way, it’s kind of a shame: there are definitely the foundations for a much more interesting, insightful film here than what we actually end up getting. Gigandet and Thune both turn in solid performances as man and penis, respectively, although no one else in the cast really stands out: the female characters, in particular, all seem to get relatively short shrift, although Cunningham holds her own as the girl who eventually wins Rich’s heart. Despite being well-made and never less than watchable, Bad Johnson still strikes me as the equivalent of getting stuck behind someone swerving on the freeway: you really wish that they’d pick a lane, if only so that you can pass them by and get on with the day.