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Film Clips
SEPTEMBER 28, 1998:
 BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS. This is gay romantic comedy
as whipped non-dairy topping: light, sweet and cloying. Tommy
O'Haver wrote and directed this trifle about a struggling photographer
who falls for an empty-headed pretty boy who likes to drink beer.
The twist is that the pretty might be straight...or is he? Billy
(the charming Sean P. Hayes) is darned sure going to find out!
This is clearly not the stuff of high drama, and it seems like
Screen Kiss goes out of its way to have absolutely no substantive
content. There certainly are some funny scenes though, and near
the end of the film the script tends to loosen up and dares to
take a few digs. Unfortunately, they come too late. This is one
of those movies that tells us that whether gay or straight, on
some level we're all the same. It's sort if like a very long episode
of Ellen, but full of men. --Richter
ONE TRUE THING. Poor Rene Zewiggler--she perpetually looks
like she's about to cry. At least that probably made her a shoo-in
for this weepie about how a family handles their dying mother/wife
(Meryl Streep). Daughter Ellen (Zewiggler) has a crush on her
father (William Hurt and runaway goatee), and is therefore successfully
manipulated into postponing her promising writing career to play
caretaker. In the process she discovers how devalued her mom has
been as a homemaker and that her dad would not be a fun date.
While it's nice to see a film that focuses on a mother-daughter
relationship, it seems a bit cruel to show the underdeveloped
characters wading through the contrived scenes with the assistance
of alcohol without offering any to the audience. Most recent Hollywood
films about women over 40 are just plain boring, though in this
case it probably has a lot to do with the insane amount of Bette
Midler music on the soundtrack. For you Beverly Hills, 90210
fans out there, you'll be glad to see that Mr. Walsh (James Eckhouse)
has expanded his range to include a supporting role as a lawyer.--Higgins
RUSH HOUR. Although this is the first Jackie Chan movie
to score big at the box office in its opening weekend in America,
it's probably his worst film. Other than the five jokes that have
been spread out over the 90 minutes of this films length, all
the dialogue is incredibly painful. When asked why he's so gung-ho
about capturing the villain, Chan is even forced to utter the
line, "He killed my partner." There's a couple of good
acrobatics/martial arts sequences, but not enough to make this
worth sitting through. On the other hand, if you think you'd like
to watch Chris Tucker do an exaggerated impression of an Asian
while Jackie Chan tries to get "funky" and "down"
to some soul music, then this film's for you. --DiGiovanna
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