Spring Break
The good, the bad and the ugly
RJ Webb
Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Features
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Stars: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton
Synopsis:
Osborne Cox (Malkovich) is fired from the CIA because of a drinking problem, and with an abundance of spare time on his hands, decides to write a memoir. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) downloads his memoir along with other personal financial files to a CD in hopes that it will help with their divorce. The CD is later found in a gym locker room by a suspicious janitor. The janitor hands the disk over to Chad Feldheimer (Pitt), a trainer at the gym, who reads the document and believes that it is classified information. Feldheimer hands the CD over to a friend to find the computer watermark, in which the phone number of Cox is revealed. Thinking that he will get some good Samaritan reward for returning the information, he informs Cox, who is not happy with the arrangement, so Feldheimer and a friend decide to blackmail Cox.
The good
It is an intellectual film about stupid people. Two gym trainers find the wife's CD and attempt to blackmail Cox without actually knowing how to go about it. The film pulls you in and keeps your attention. Fieldheimer's stupid comments and Harry Pfarrer's (Clooney) sexual antics are enough to entertain the simplest of viewers. The viewer will go through a rollercoaster effect of affection for characters, growing to love them, then hating them and back to loving them again. It is a dark comedy with more twist than Pretzel Time.
The bad
The script was written with Malkovich's character using the F-word frequently, almost more than even Scarface could ever utter. For a man in his 60s, this is not as believable as it would be for Brad Pitt's dense character (Feldheimer), who comes across as uneducated and is significantly younger than Cox.
The ugly
While all of the above are forgivable, the horrendous performance by Frances McDormand (Linda Litzke, sidekick to Feldheimer) is not. Her acting seemed more theatrical and over-the-top by film standards, making it unimpressive and annoying. McDormand does not appear to grasp the difference between film and stage acting.
Verdict:
It is clearly a Coen Brother's film, but not up to par with some of their early work. Worth seeing, but go to the matinee.
This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.
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