Screen Scene

  Screen Gems "Slackers", a film about college students,
provides a new look at academic life.

“Slackers”
Starring Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, James King
Directed by Dewey Nicks

Teenagers and crude humor have historically provided a winning
combination in Hollywood, but “Slackers” lacks quality
vulgarity. It relies on the shock value of its gross humor to
entertain, but the humor is so absurd and unusual that it is
difficult to determine when to laugh and when to cringe. What
“Slackers” does deserve credit for is trying to find
fresh new ways to disgust its audience. The gross scenes, however,
feel like they were inserted as an insurance policy against waning
attention spans. With the use of hair dolls and penis puppets,
“Slackers” enters the realm of obscure crudeness. The
irreverent comedy follows three college students who construct
massively complicated scams in order to pass their exams. When nerd
Ethan (Jason Schwartzman) uncovers their con, he blackmails Dave
(Devon Sawa) into helping him attain the beautiful Angela (James
King). Although its humor can be a bit out of place at times,
“Slackers” provides amusement in the form of stupidity.
Jason Schwartzman is a dazzling psychotic stalker and Devon Sawa
epitomizes undergraduate laziness. Although it may be completely
bizarre, “Slackers” manages to blend romance, intrigue,
and obsessive-compulsive behaviors in creating a mindlessly
entertaining film.

Emily Camastra

  Courtesy of Outrider Pictures "American Adobo" focuses on
the lives of contemporary Filipino Americans.

“American Adobo”
Starring Paolo Montalban, Christopher De Leon, Dina Bonnevie
Directed by Laurice Guillen

Filipinos in America deserve to have films that cater to their
experience, and director Laurice Guillen and writer Vincent R.
Nebrida have certainly delivered the goods. But beyond that, the
film is a failure. What begins as a derivative but generally
good-intentioned work ends as such. If anyone ever wanted a movie
with as many “homages” to Woody Allen, Ang Lee, and
Edward Yang as possible, then this movie would be it. While not
shying away from difficult issues such as AIDS, the film shuns such
narratives and focuses on its other goal of portraying interesting
Filipino characters, succeeding to a small degree. Adobo’s
audience is the Filipino Americans who still get excited about the
fact that the person who played Rufio (Dante Basco) in
Spielberg’s “Hook” was Filipino. Indeed, while
“Adobo” itself is not the great film it could have
been, hopefully seeing Filipinos on-screen will open the doors to a
new generation.

Howard Ho

  Courtesy of Miramax Films Nicole Kidman
shows her dark side to Ben Chaplin in "Birthday
Girl."

“Birthday Girl”
Starring Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin
Directed by Jez Butterworth

Never order a Russian mail-order bride, no matter how sexually
repressed conditions may be. She may look like Nicole Kidman, but
there’s something shady about this bride, a woman who rarely
speaks and rims her eyes thickly with black liner. It is no wonder
John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin) tried to call the agency back,
displeased with who they sent. This is only where the journey
begins. Nadia (Nicole Kidman), the “wife,” forces him
to bed, where they finally develop a strange kind of affection for
each other. But it isn’t until her birthday that this
questionable romance turns into a thriller. Viewers will go on an
emotional rollercoaster, being shocked one moment, touched in
another and then amused, especially with the fast pace of the film.
The director effectively contrasts the scenes of passion with those
of innocence and connivance. Kidman’s transformation into a
dark Russian is almost always convincing, but fails to capture the
glow of her usual screen personality. Chaplin, however, plays a
perfect one-dimensional banker, causing audience members to pity
him for all his misfortunes and his collection of porn videos. But
later, he displays impressive variations of character. It is
difficult to fathom how such affection developed between Nadia and
John, barely having exchanged words. Maybe animalistic love scenes
can substitute for a few years of communication. But other than
that, the plot is exciting and entertaining, with a common mix of
spontaneity and predictability.

Sophia Whang