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An American Rhapsody
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It Came From Hollywood
Bubble Boy
Rated PG-13
2001, Touchstone
Jake Gyllenhaal walks in the footsteps of original bubble boy John Travolta in a goofball comedy that gets funnier every time I watch it. Gyllenhaal's plays Jimmy Livingston, a lovesick boy who escapes his germ-free environment in order to follow the girl of his dreams and prevent her impending marriage. For the constantly grinning Gyllenhaal, Bubble Boy takes full advantage of his over-the-top charms.
Marley Shelton complements Gyllenhaal as the low-key Chloe, the blonde object of Jimmy's affection. Swoosie Kurtz aims for slapstick laughs as Jimmy's morally uptight mother. Still, Bubble Boy is all about Gyllenhaal's goofy charms and clownish screen presence.
Gyllenhaal turns Bubble Boy into a Monty Python-inspired midnight movie. For director Blair Hayes, he couldn't have hoped for a better leading doofus. (Grade: B)
Art House
An American Rhapsody
Rated R
2001, Paramount
This overly sweet immigrant tale confirms that writer/director Eve Gardos is the wrong person to direct her own family's story about escaping Communist Hungary for 1950s California. An American Rhapsody is smothered with so much sentimentality, it makes one's teeth hurt just to watch it.
A Hungarian couple (Natassja Kinksi and Tony Goldwyn) are forced to leave behind their youngest daughter Suzanne during a late-night border crossing from Communist Hungary. Years later, after being reunited in 1950s Los Angeles, a now teen-age Suzanne (Scarlett Johannson) has grown resentful of her parents. More importantly, she wants to return to Hungary to visit the peasant couple who raised her as their own daughter.
Kinski's performance is comprised of nothing more than the requisite tears and Eastern European accent. Johannson, so good as a different type of teen rebel in Ghost World, never believably captures Suzanne's anger. Only Goldwyn's restrained performance as Suzanne's sympathetic father brings American Rhapsody the credibility it needs to make an emotional impact.
In another director's hands, An American Rhapsody might have been something heartfelt and engaging. In Gardos' hands, it's nothing more than a gooey soap opera. (Grade: D)
DVD Debut
Falling in Love
Rated PG-13
1984, Paramount
An understated Robert De Niro is perfectly matched with an accent-less Meryl Streep in director Ulu Grosbard's subtle tale about a pair of married commuters who fall in love. Grosbard tells screenwriter Michael Cristofer's Brief Encounter-inspired story in such a matter-of-fact manner that the film no longer qualifies as melodrama. De Niro is likable as the construction supervisor whose passion for romance soon takes him away from his family. Streep's lovelorn graphic designer is one of the most approachable characters she's ever portrayed on-screen. Grosbard directs Falling in Love skillfully. It's to Grosbard's credit that this tale of well-meaning infidels feels believable. More importantly, Hollywood's current fixation on teen audiences makes an adult-oriented drama like Falling in Love into a historical relic. (Grade: C)
And the rest
Director Rene Clement's sexually charged thriller Purple Noon (Miramax) thrives on its engaging lead performance from Alain Delon. Based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, Delon plays Tom Ripley, a supposed friend intent on stealing playboy Philip Greenleaf's (Maurice Ronet) girlfriend, money and identity. By slowly building the film's suspense, Clement creates a suspense film that's equal to Highsmith's storytelling ... Judy Davis' riveting performance is the best thing about the TV drama Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (Disney). Based on the book by Judy Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, Davis compensates for Luft's sappy storytelling with a performance that's nothing less than riveting.
