|
|
City
of Ghosts
 Matt
Dillon, a staff favorite for years (for reasons like his big
teeth in Something About Mary and the line "Sparkplug? No I
said Butt Plug"), makes his directorial debut the hard way by
shooting his first film in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Apparently
assembling about
him the only actors who would agree to make the trip over, he attempts to
tell the story of Jimmy, an American con/business man who travels
overseas to settle some matters with his mentor James
Caan. He checks into a pub/hotel run by a deliciously slovenly Gérard
Depardieu and proceeds to sort of wander about the streets (and
the rest of the film) carrying a big suitcase and sticking out like a
sore thumb. He gets pummeled, way laid, scammed, seduced (by Natascha
McElhone see picture), double crossed, and dicked over, all with the same
expression on his face and a sort of minimalist acting style that is
at times hilarious for the right reasons and at others for the wrong
ones. This movie completely loses its way and all credibility about
half way through and, as the plot disappears into the mist like Lao
Tsu on his ass, it becomes truly painful to behold. The first half however
shows real promise and has some of the funniest scenes you'll ever
see. For example, when Dillon arrives at Depardieu's
bar and asks about a room he is told that he will probably want the
one with an air conditioner as it will be worth the extra money in
the stifling heat. When Jimmy finally locates the room down the street
somewhere he finds a smashed air conditioner in the middle of the
floor and a monkey immediately jitters in and steals his sunglasses.
When he mentions this the next morning to his host, Gerard says in
his best belligerent French accent, "What it's not working? Ah yes I
remember. I went to get my man to fix it but he was drunk. Have a
drink with me. And there are no monkeys in my hotel. Absolutely
not!" As Dillon takes a pull off the proffered rusty flask he looks to
see the doorman wearing his sunglasses. Depardieu
is meanwhile berating a large python which is stretched across the
hall imploring it to take care of any monkeys it sees. Another highlight of the
film is Kem
Sereyvuth who is a bicycle taxi driver that Dillon reportedly met when he
was scouting for locations. Dillon was evidently so impressed with
the young man that he wrote a large part into the film for him at the last minute
to basically play himself and although this movie is truly horrible
towards the end Sereyvuth's character Suk remains engaging. This
reviewer's date leaned in towards the end of the viewing and said
"this is the worst movie I've seen in awhile but if anything
happens to Suk I'll not forgive you for bringing me to it."
Nothing does but something definitely happened to the plot. We
recommend waiting until it comes on cable, watching the first half
and then switching to the ball game.
Rating: 
|