Day 84 - 3/25/09 - Movie #81
BEFORE: I'll keep working this theme - the darker side of show biz. This one keeps popping up on the IFC channel, so I'll give it a whirl. I heard Kevin Spacey did his own singing while playing Bobby Darin in this film - unlike a certain other actor whose name rhymes with Shay Shiotta...
THE PLOT: A swooning study of "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin, his rise to fame, and his relationship with his wife Sandra Dee.
AFTER: No, that Kevin Spacey certainly does not do things half way. In addition to the singing and dancing, he plays Darin warts-and-all, or is that receding hairline-and-all? From Darin's quest for fame, to his quest for love, and then quest for meaning in his life - it's rare to see a famous person portrayed during his down times, his periods of disillusionment or cultural irrelevance. I'm reminded of Patton Oswalt's joke about "The Passion of the Christ" - he said it was like making a film about Einstein, but only focusing on the week where he had a really bad stomach flu, and was sitting on the toilet a lot.
There are some unconventional storytelling methods used here, like having the older Bobby Darin interact with the actor playing him as a young boy. But then, Darin led a fairly unconventional life...
RATING: 7 out of 10 gold records
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The classic "movie star produces and directs for the first time" film. In many ways it's a student film on a $80M budget. Identifiable marks here are myriad but let's just go with the "Star talks directly to a younger version of himself" thing. Sure, Woody Allen did it but in the hands of a first-time director it feels like a cheap, hacky trick and an alternative to simply telling the story in a straightforward manner.
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