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Bukowski
* * 1/2

The premise of "Bukowski: Born Into This", a new documentary chronicling the often-stormy life of writer Charles Bukowski (probably best know to the masses for the semi-autobiographical film "Barfly) appears to be that it will show that there was more to the man than just a rocky personal life. Although the participants in this film-including family members and famous friends like Sean Penn and Tom Waits-stress his artistic abilities, the movie, perhaps inevitably, is simply unable to convey the punch that one gets from reading Bukowski’s words. Fans of the writer will doubtlessly eat this film up with a spoon (and then wash it down with something cheap and fortified) but other than some vintage footage of the man himself, they won’t be learning much of anything new about their hero. Newcomers are advised instead to go to the bookstore and pick up some of Bukowski’s stories and poems instead-they are far more entertaining and I suspect they will wind up discovering far more about him (as well as themselves) in those words than on the screen.

Directed by John Dullaghan. Starring Charles Bukowski, Sean Penn, Bono, Taylor Hackford, and Barbet Schroeder.

The Door in the Floor
* * 1/2

The novels of John Irving tend to contain both sprawling narratives and characters who are vain, weak, self-centered and occasionally quite unpleasant to be around-in other words, like most ordinary people. Such aspects, of course, tend to terrify movie studios, who would prefer the stories to be simpler and the characters to be nicer; as a result, previous adaptations of Irving’s works (even the underrated "The World According to Garp") have never had the impact of the books because of the desire to make them more audience-friendly (such as "The Cider House Rules", which contained an ether-huffing abortionist that even George W. Bush might have found cuddly and adorable). In "The Door in the Floor", an adaptation of Irving’s "A Widow For One Year", writer-director Tod Williams has met these particular challenges head-on with mixed results.

Jeff Bridges stars as Ted Cole, a womanizing author of childrens books and Kim Basinger plays his estranged wife Marion, who still hasn’t quite recovered from the deaths of their two sons a few years earlier. Into this situation, made trickier by their young daughter (Ellie Fanning) and their trial separation, comes young Eddie (Jon Foster), a Yale kid who has been hired for the summer as Ted’s assistant (which translates into picking up his squid ink and driving him to trysts with the local women). Although he idolizes Ted, Eddie develops feelings of another sort for Marion and things quickly become complicated.

On the one hand, Williams has admirably resisted the urge to make the characters more sentimental and sympathetic-they are probably the closes translation of Irving’s characters to even hit the big screen-and the performances by Bridges and Basinger are quite impressive. On the other, the decision to concentrate the story only on the first couple of chapters in the book, while a better alternative than trying to compress the decades-long timeframe into two hours, isn’t a complete satisfactory alternative; for example, the daughter, who is the central character in the book, almost becomes an afterthought here. The real problem with the film is that while it has a lot of good scenes (including all of the Bridges/Basinger encounters), it also contains a good number of bad ones (including attempts at sex comedy that threaten to turn the film into a more academic "American Pie") and the film doesn’t quite know how to tie them all together. At one point, Ted reads Eddie’s first attempt at a novel and dismisses it by describing it as "a collection of personal anecdotes that don’t really add up"-a description that, despite the performances, pretty much sums up "The Door in the Floor" as well.

Written and directed by Tod Williams. Starring Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jon Foster, Mimi Rogers and Bijou Phillips.

Napoleon Dynamite
* 1/2

There are two kinds of gawky nerds that can be found in a typical high school; there is the kind who wears their oddness proudly in a way that you can’t help but secretly admire and there is the kind that is so clueless and annoying that it almost seems as if they are trying to act even dorkier simply to get a rise out of people. It is that second example that is the focus of "Napoleon Dynamite", a condescending comedy that has inexplicably begun to pick up a cult since it premiered at Sundance earlier this year. As the title character, Jon Heder is all awkward ticks and nothing else. This wouldn’t necessarily a bad thing if co-writer/director Jared Hess had any particular interest in what makes a person like him tick. Instead, Hess is content to have his character flail around in such a manner that he seems less like an outcast and more of a case for intense therapy.

To make matters worse, Hess treats all of his characters-especially Napoleon’s delusional brothers played by Jon Gries and Aaron Ruell-in exactly the same smug manner. The hateful attitude on display makes the film feel like a Todd Solondz film without the empathy and I didn’t laugh once while watching it (not that difficult when the closest thing to genuine humor comes from the subtle comedic shadings of Deidrich Bader). I must admit, however, that the audience I saw it with did seem to find it amusing. However, I always got the sense they were laughing at the characters and not with them; if they encountered those same people in a school hallway, they would shove them into a locker without hesitation. "Napoleon Dynamite" is not the first movie where the geeky kids triumph over the beautiful bullies; it may, however, be the first one where I found myself rooting for the bullies.

Written by Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess. Directed by Jared Hess. Starring Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino and Haylie Duff

-- Capsule Reviews by Peter Sobczynski

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
All rights reserved.
Used with permission
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.