Word: scripting
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Quentin Tarantino's first film, "Reservoir Dogs," files in the face of every Hollywood cops-and-robbers flick you've ever seen. It has the emotional level and acting quality of "Glengarry Glen Ross" and the script and camera work of a newcomer who isn't afraid to challenge the status quo. It screams out, "CULT CLASSIC...
Such audacious camera work would be lost without a solid script: luckily, the guy can write, too. What do diamond crooks talk about when they eat together in a diner? Tarantino imagines them interpeting Madonna songs as though they were literary critics: "you said 'True Blue' was about a nice girl who finds a sensitive fella. But 'Like a Virgin' was metaphor for big dicks," proclaims one enlightened criminal. From here they move to philosophising on the wrongs of society...
Assessing the quality of the ART's production is difficult when the script is so troubled Whether problems in pacing can be attributed to Joe Dowling's direction, or a refusal to cut lines, is unclear. Derek McLane's set, while visually impressive, crowds actors between two uninteresting tables and is a generally unwise use of space. In keeping with the standard of the script there is little that is striking or exceptional about this production...
...trite as the plot is, the main characters rescue it from oblivion. The trenchcoat-and-sunglass-clad, play-it-by-the-book Doug Chesnic is perfect contrast to the odd but kind Tess Carlisle. Several political references also spice up the dull script. Some are to past administrations, like when Tess says that all Agnew and Johnson ever did was play golf: "If was a blessing for the country." Others allude to Bill and Hillary. When Tess watches old news clips about her husband, the audience learns her Clinton-like history relatively painlessly. Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle met at Denison...
...someone in the movie said "our relatives are coming down from Boston for Christmas." I could only conclude that this wasn't Marblehead: the Marblehead I know lies about 17 miles north of Boston, adjacent to Salem. Thank God, I found out later through some gracious line in the script that the movie was supposed to take place in Connecticut. Confusion quelled, I could watch the rest of the movie with a clear mind...