Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Passion Play - DVD Review


l 1/2

Starring Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, Rhys Ifans, Rory Cochrane and Robert Wisdom. Directed by Mitch Glazer.

The writer of Scrooged and The Recruit makes his directorial debut with this arthouse oddity that aspires to be David Lynchian but misses the mark by a wide, wide mile.

Mickey Rourke plays Nate Pool, a trumpet player on the run from a mobster named Happy (Bill Murray) that wants to kill him. One of Happy's henchmen takes Nate into the middle of the desert to kill him, but the henchman is gunned down by some Indians wearing all-white who say nothing and run off. And that's the last we see of them.

Nate wanders through the desert for hours and happens upon a carnival. Love those carnivals in the middle of nowhere. Alas it is not led by a dwarf named Samson; it's run by a mustache-twirling barker played by Rhys Ifans. As he wanders the grounds, he finds Lily (Megan Fox), a woman on display because she has angel wings, literally.

Nate rescues her, but Happy is hot on his trail, and once he learns of Lily's wings, he wants her for himself.

Glazer has some obvious talent, and the quirky cast does what they can, but what the freak is this movie trying to do? How can you have a plot like this and try to play it as straight as The Wrestler? It held my interest for a while, but it meanders halfway through until it sputters and dies with a laughable climax.

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