What a silly movie.
When the film started, I sort of marveled at how absurd it was–Joel Schumacher and Michael Douglas making a subversive movie, then I quickly realized Falling Down isn’t subversive… it’s “controversial.” Obviously, Schumacher doesn’t have a controversial bone in his body–and neither does Douglas–so Falling Down gets repetitive and boring before too long. I suppose one can enjoy watching Douglas only hurt bad people in his “everyman” gone psycho role. Everyman is in quotes because I’m sure they used it in the promotional material for the film.
Douglas is terrible, playing Michael Douglas playing a psycho (a really, really stupid one–my fiancée asked if he was mentally ill, before we started the film and I told her no, but watching it, it’s obvious Douglas’s character has the mental processes of a nine-year old. A dumb one). Schumacher’s direction is also pretty bad, both of his actors and just composition-wise. He has this whole LA in orange smug thing going for Falling Down and it makes the film ugly, not realistic.
There are a handful of good things about Falling Down, however–though certainly not the music. I can’t forget the music. The film is, again, supposed to be mainstream gone indie, pre-Miramax, and James Newton Howard contributes the score to a Predator movie, possibly even lifting some of the themes. It’s laughable.
Anyway, good things about the film. I’d like to say Tuesday Weld, but the script runs her in such a dumb direction, I don’t get to say it. However, Robert Duvall’s fantastic. Wonderful in fact. His part is poorly written, but seeing Duvall act in such a big role is still a treat. Barbara Hershey’s also all right, so is Lois Smith (in the film’s second or third worst role). Frederic Forrest is terrible in his role, easily the film’s worst.
The terrible script was written by Ebbe Roe Smith. I’d actually list his other screenwriting credits to let you know what to avoid, but I’ll just assume anyone would avoid Car 54, Where Are You? on his or her own.
CREDITS
Directed by Joel Schumacher; written by Ebbe Roe Smith; director of photography, Andrzej Bartkowiak; edited by Paul Hirsch; music by James Newton Howard; production designer, Barbara Ling; produced by Arnold Kopelson, Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris; released by Warner Bros.
Starring Michael Douglas (D-Fens), Robert Duvall (Prendergast), Barbara Hershey (Beth), Rachel Ticotin (Sandra), Tuesday Weld (Mrs. Prendergast), Frederic Forrest (Surplus Store Owner), Lois Smith (D-Fens’s Mother) Joey Hope Singer (Adele), Ebbe Roe Smith (Guy on Freeway) and Michael Paul Chan (Mr. Lee).
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1 response so far ↓
It’s sad you can’t appreciate this film. It’s a work of art, it just happens to be a niche movie which hasn’t aged well, that shouldn’t have been advertised at the time as a blockbuster-to-be (that Super Bowl ad was great, but it just gave the film expectations of “everyone can love this - see, it’s Douglas blowing stuff up!”. Michael Douglas had far too much juice in the early 90’s, so everyone just assumed this would be his next “Basic Instinct”. I think this film is a victim of poor timing. You said yourself this movie was supposed to be mainstream becoming indie - well, that’s precisely what it is, it was just advertised as an action film and couldn’t deliver in that regard BECAUSE IT’S NOT ONE! The acting is great, and Fred Forrest’s character is AMAZING. He plays, to the best of his niche, character-acting ability, the Nick role to perfection and he’s one of the best movie villains ever. Well, who is the villain in this film? You really don’t know, although I suppose a racist, bigoted neo-Nazi shop owner is bound to be a villain. Not sure what you thought was so terrible here. Every character in the movie is far from immune from flaws; even Duvall’s character gets a talking-to by his boss and by his partner, as well as reamed out by his own wife.
Sometimes ugly = realistic (responding to your comment re: LA). Schumacher wasn’t showing Beverly Hills; I think all of us can relate to sitting in traffic and just being so damn frustrated by it that we want to leave our cars and go relax for a day. That’s how D-Fens’ day starts, but then…well…then, shenanigans ensue. the movie is portrayed as symbolic of things we can all relate to, but melodramatized and compacted into one day. Doesn’t that describe a lot of movies? Love stories that happen far too quickly for real life; relationships derailed for little things that get blown up, etc. etc.?
Well, personally I liked the film, but I can’t blame people for NOT liking it; it just happens to be one of my all-time faves.
I like this movie for it’s comic appeal, to be honest, but I can also appreciate Michael Douglas here with an A for effort. Everyone seemed to actually be acting in this movie, which is more than I can say for other Michael Douglas roles (Perfect Murder, anyone?).