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Joff? straddles thin line in his new 'Goodbye Lover'

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"Goodbye Lover"

Directed by: Roland Joff?

Starring: Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson, Ellen DeGeneres, Mary-Louise Parker

Rated: R

In the 1960s, back when pro wrestling was real, an announcer once described one of the bad-guy wrestlers Sputnik Monroe, I think it was like this: "You know, folks, there's a thin line between being a genius and being an idiot." For some reason that rather bizarre thought has stuck with me over the years and it came to mind when trying to describe director Roland Joff?'s latest film, "Goodbye Lover."

Crowds and critics alike have had mixed emotions about the movie. Some find it a befuddling mess of a plot with wooden dialogue and holes in its continuity and characters.

Others see it as belonging to the subgenre of film noir that began with "Double Indemnity," and includes "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Out of the Past" and, more recently, "Body Heat" and "Against All Odds."

I'm straddling the fence about "Goodbye Lover," because you know, folks, there's a thin line between being a genius and ... .

Roland Joff? is a perfect example of the Sputnik Monroe Syndrome. His first two films were genius. "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission" were both well-made, politically infused dramas that earned Joff? best-director nominations. His later works tend to step on the other side of the genius/idiot line and include the inexplicable "Super Mario Brothers" (he was producer) as well as the 1995 remake of "The Scarlet Letter."

This time around he has a stellar ensemble cast and story that I think fits nicely in the mold of the films mentioned above.

The screenplay also throws in a good deal of dark humor, most of it supplied by cynical detective Rita Pompano, played by Ellen DeGeneres. DeGeneres essentially plays a version of her stand-up comedy self and, for some reason, seems to have a food fetish here. In between bouts of demoralizing her religious new partner, she's constantly munching on food, picking her teeth or talking about going to get something to eat.

For this type of movie, going into the details of the plot too deeply would only be a disservice to the reader. But let me try to capsulize without giving it all away.

Don Johnson is having a torrid affair with kinda kinky Patricia Arquette who is married to Johnson's alcoholic brother Dermot Mulroney. Mulroney is having an affair with Mary-Louise Parker who, three days ago, ran off to Vegas and married her boss, Don Johnson. One of the women wants one of the brothers dead so she and her lover can collect a whopping amount of insurance money. It turns out the other brother is being set up by at least one of the women and his very own brother. And one of the brothers is involved with the other woman.

Got it? Good!

Don't worry. If you're a film noir fan, you're probably used to this weaving of the tangled web and will have fun trying to figure out who's doing what to whom.

As in most noir offerings, there are no good guys here, but in a twisted little bit of character development, Arquette's Sandra Dunmore besides the overt kinkiness has the habit of listening to the soundtrack from "The Sound of Music," as well as the Tony Robbins series of get-rich-quick self-help tapes. With this in mind, you just know she's going to have something very special happen to her by film's end. As Detective Pampano puts it, "I don't trust anybody over 10 who listens to 'The Sound of Music.' "

Another cinematic device Joff? employs (some may feel he overuses it) is the mirror shot.

From the opening scene through the very end, not many frames go by where we don't see someone, or some situation, shot through a mirror. One scene in particular has Arquette in three or four reflective surfaces of various shapes and sizes. I guess we're supposed to get the idea that sometimes, things aren't exactly what they appear to be.

"Goodbye Lover" never made it to Springfield on its initial run and has finally turned up at The Palace in Chesterfield Village. The Palace is what's known in the theater business as a sub-run or second-run house, but is more commonly referred to as the cheap movies. So, if you like film noir, all you stand to lose is a buck seventy-five and a couple of hours of your time.

I found the film worth it, but keep in mind, "There's a thin line between ... ."

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.) [[In-content Ad]]

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