|
Can I give a negative review and criticize someone for
doing what they do well? That is the case with David Mamet's
Edmond. I'm not a particular fan of David Mamet and his
work, so that is a negative going in with me already. But
I did my best to be open minded and gave it a fair and honest
shot and to maybe be surprised. I have seen a lot of films
I expected to loathe and walked out loving them. There has
also been films that I expected to love and absolutely hated.
So you never know what to expect when seeing a film.***
For Mamet fans, you'll be happy as can be. For everyone
else? You'll see a lot of the same Mamet we have seen in
films like The Verdict and Glengarry Glen Ross. Neither
of which I was a big fan of. The star and lead in his film
is William H. Macy as Edmond. He is basically your Kevin
Spacey in American Beauty. A seemingly normal business man
having a midlife crisis. After a meeting is moved, he ends
up at a fortune teller who gives him the information that
he is not where he is supposed to be. After the teller,
he goes to a bar and meets a man (Joe Mantegna), who has
some unique views on blacks and life in general.***
Edmond walks out on his wife, which leaves her shocked
and befuddled by his recent change of heart. He is then
in the mood for some loving. He starts off at a gentlemen's
club and meets Denise Richards, who has a hefty price for
her services. He has had enough and finds another establishment
known as the peep show and meets Bai Ling. He is disappointed
when he cannot touch her and ends up leaving promptly. ***
Next up is Mena Suvari in Edmond's search for a quick
and cheap lay. Needless to say, this does not go well either.
Then Edmond ends up losing a game of three-card monte and
gets mugged and robbed. He pawns his ring in exchange for
a knife. He then has time to look for some more love in
all the wrong places at the hands of a pimp (Lionel Mark
Smith). Think of him as the black Harvey Keitel from Taxi
Driver. The pimp tries to rob him, but Edmond uses that
knife and causes a world-wind of violence. He finally gets
his wish for some loving when he meets a waitress in Julia
Stiles. It starts off well, but does not end up as well
as he had hoped. ***
The film is very erratic and all over the map. Characters
pop in, pop out, and come at us at like pop ups on a bad
computer. I wish the film would have slowed down and told
us a narrative story instead of throwing a bunch of characters
at us. The film suffers from being too messy. With all the
actors involved, you should let them act, let them be funny,
let them do what they do best. No one outside of Macy is
really used to their full potential. They are mostly used
to move along the plot. You could have used anyone in their
particular roles. ***
The film also tries a little too hard to get a reaction
out of us with its racial comments and its characters. It
becomes a little annoying and does not get the controversial
reaction it was clearly aiming for. It comes off as trying
far too hard to get under your skin or get you to react.
I became numb to it and thought it was lazy and unoriginal.
Also, the film has far too many moments of characters sitting
down with their warped thoughts about life and making sense
of it all. It was like a bunch of therapists sitting down.---
Image & Sound:
Edmond looks good on DVD as the film takes place mostly
at night, so it's a very night time visual film. It has
nice colors of blue and black and the transfer has no grain
or problems of any kind. A very nice looking DVD release
from First Independent Studios. It is a lot of fun to look
at. It is almost like looking at the stars late at night.
---
|
