This may be a stupid question, but...
Aug. 18th, 2006 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offbalanceDo any of you have a personal rule as far as finishing things? I generally will chuck a book if it's a chore to read, and I'll stop watching a tv series with minimal effort or guilt, but it's rare for me to give up on a movie right away. If I find the narrative or story compelling, or a character, or hell, even the cinematography or effects, I'll usually be able to put up with the hour and a half or two hours it takes to get through it.
There are exceptions, though, and I just ran across one of them. Roger Dodger was reccommended to me by a couple of people, and, given my love for all things Campbell Scott, I threw it on my netflix queue and finally watched it tonight. Now, I know the character is not supposed to be a nice guy. He's supposed to be a conniving, self-serving, manipulative bastard, which doesn't have to be a problem. A little complication in a character is a Good Thing. It stirs things better than the usual film convention of Weird Shit Happends to Average Nice Dude. I have no problem rooting for an antihero, or even not rooting for him/her, but being so compelled by his/her story that I am glued to my seat and filled with some kind of desire to see how the whole thing ends.
Most recent in a long line of predecessors, Jeremy Piven (via his role as Ari Gold on Entourage) has proven to the world that you can have this sort of character and make him interesting, charismatic, charming, and funny as all hell. I'm almost at the 3/4 mark of Roger Dodger and the only thing I want to do is beat the hell out of the titular character, and then shower in bleach. I can't fault Campbell Scott's choice for playing Roger as an utterly despicable waste of blood and breath; not only does it fit the character, it's a wonderful counterpoint to the others in the film. However, I can't bear to even look at him. He's the cheesy, annoying player asshole who comes up with a whole convoluted system that's supposedly how to attract/nail women (and "close the deal," as it were), even though this system doesn't really seem to work. There are no side characters to sustain me - the nephew he's leading around is a whiny wet blanket, and other characters flit in and out. Ever had a night out with people you don't know very well that ended up being an epic, miserable experience? Where you wanted to go home but for some reason couldn't get away, and wound up dragging around from crappy bar to crappy party and back again listening to mind-numbingly fatuous conversations by people who think they know more about life than they actually do, and wishing you'd spent the night at home with takeout and a dvd? That's the mood this film evokes.
I may have to watch Singles many, many, many times to get the taste of this film out of my mouth. Or find a copy of Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Or literally anything else. Roger is such a boring, sleazy slimeball that I don't even want to look at Campbell Scott while he's doing his thing. No, I want to stay pure.
Part of me wonders if I should spend the time and just finish the damn thing before I throw it back at netflix. The other? Is yelling at me not to bother. And I think that part is going to win.
There are exceptions, though, and I just ran across one of them. Roger Dodger was reccommended to me by a couple of people, and, given my love for all things Campbell Scott, I threw it on my netflix queue and finally watched it tonight. Now, I know the character is not supposed to be a nice guy. He's supposed to be a conniving, self-serving, manipulative bastard, which doesn't have to be a problem. A little complication in a character is a Good Thing. It stirs things better than the usual film convention of Weird Shit Happends to Average Nice Dude. I have no problem rooting for an antihero, or even not rooting for him/her, but being so compelled by his/her story that I am glued to my seat and filled with some kind of desire to see how the whole thing ends.
Most recent in a long line of predecessors, Jeremy Piven (via his role as Ari Gold on Entourage) has proven to the world that you can have this sort of character and make him interesting, charismatic, charming, and funny as all hell. I'm almost at the 3/4 mark of Roger Dodger and the only thing I want to do is beat the hell out of the titular character, and then shower in bleach. I can't fault Campbell Scott's choice for playing Roger as an utterly despicable waste of blood and breath; not only does it fit the character, it's a wonderful counterpoint to the others in the film. However, I can't bear to even look at him. He's the cheesy, annoying player asshole who comes up with a whole convoluted system that's supposedly how to attract/nail women (and "close the deal," as it were), even though this system doesn't really seem to work. There are no side characters to sustain me - the nephew he's leading around is a whiny wet blanket, and other characters flit in and out. Ever had a night out with people you don't know very well that ended up being an epic, miserable experience? Where you wanted to go home but for some reason couldn't get away, and wound up dragging around from crappy bar to crappy party and back again listening to mind-numbingly fatuous conversations by people who think they know more about life than they actually do, and wishing you'd spent the night at home with takeout and a dvd? That's the mood this film evokes.
I may have to watch Singles many, many, many times to get the taste of this film out of my mouth. Or find a copy of Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Or literally anything else. Roger is such a boring, sleazy slimeball that I don't even want to look at Campbell Scott while he's doing his thing. No, I want to stay pure.
Part of me wonders if I should spend the time and just finish the damn thing before I throw it back at netflix. The other? Is yelling at me not to bother. And I think that part is going to win.
