A soggy mash-up of genres, with Jon Favreau playing a comically (or, perhaps satirically) narcissistic unemployed actor in Los Angeles who accepts a courier job from his eccentric neighbor; his assignment is to deliver a blue suitcase to a man named Cowboy out in the remote town of Baker, CA...but when he gets there, the connection has already left. Most unemployed actors in Favreau's situation would turn around and head home, but he instead checks into the local motel and gets involved with several of the desert denizens. Writer-director Steve Anderson doesn't seem very intrigued by the familiar material, nor is he particularly anxious to put a different spin on it. It's "U-Turn" or "After Hours" accented with a Lynchian non-sensibility. Once the protagonist gets locked into this bizarre town, Anderson offers him nothing but off-putting company and outlandish avenues. Favreau (easy-going in a bowling shirt) ogles the sexy cowgirls--and his own reflection--without giving us a genuine character. This type of indifferent cockiness can get awfully monotonous, despite Favreau's overall polite nature. He's a handsome lug with an open face, yet he projects no other personality except as the proverbial guy-on-the-make. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Big Empty
The Big Empty
(2003)
Rather like Oliver Stone aping Martin Scorsese aping David Lynch...
15 August 2010