If you look at Robert De Niro's recent credits, you see a mix of action pictures and romantic or family comedies. Of late, the actor has mostly alternated major-genre roles. Look at some of the titles: "Little Fockers," then "The Ages Of Love," followed by the duo of "Limitless" and "Killer Elite," with the latter two followed by "New Year's Eve." These titles are just a sampling. Yes, he took the time to direct and star in the interesting and contemplative "The Good Shepherd," but he also did a small turn in the over-the-top "Machete."
The one recent film closest to the acting De Niro most people think about is "Everybody's Fine," an underrated gem about a man trying to reconnect with his family. I am not one of his critics who thinks that movie stars have to be pigeon-holed in terms of the parts they choose. But I will write that I am glad, perhaps even relieved, to see De Niro in "Being Flynn." His performance is so raw and emotional that you appreciate the picture on two levels. The first appreciation is for the success and accomplishment of the story itself. And the second is for the pleasure of seeing De Niro back in what can only be called full-throttle form.
In "Being Flynn," De Niro plays Jonathan Flynn, a sometime taxi driver, full-time alcoholic, occasional con-man, and all-round street character filled with bravado and prone to bullying even those who want to help him. He also considers himself one of the world's three greatest writers, the other two being Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger. That he has never published anything is not relevant, at least to him. Flynn is a drifter and a grifter. He's a belligerent character who has no idea that what he's really seeking is redemption.
Flynn had a marriage that failed and a son he failed. That son is named Nick. Now in his 20s, Nick is also leading an unsteady life. His father's abandonment has affected him greatly. His mother Jody's death has given him a sense of fatalism. Nick also wants to succeed as a writer. He does drugs, tries to make a relationship work, and eventually finds work at a homeless shelter.
Jonathan and Nick have not seen each other in years. What's interesting here is that the story, which is true, doesn't rely on a surprise meeting between father and son. Early in the picture, Jonathan simply shows up to ask Nick to help him move out of an apartment from which he is being evicted. The elder Flynn has destroyed the musical equipment of members of a rock band who are practicing in the building in which he is trying to write. But after Nick helps his father move, the man disappears again.
Things go from bad to worse. Now down and out in Boston, the elder Flynn is reduced to sleeping on grates and fending off street thugs. He walks into the homeless shelter where his son works, and the already strong story builds from there.
Nothing is simple here. Jonathan Flynn seems incapable of warmth. He remains as he has always been, a bellicose destroyer of relationships, a man distrustful of others, an ornery soul filled with contempt for authority. He is incapable of change.
The movie progresses by highlighting the paths both Jonathan and Nick must take to rise out of the miasma in which they find themselves. Is the elder Flynn merely a cold, uncaring person, a product of his generation's rules for parenting, or is there a whiff of hope? Does Nick really need his father to succeed as a writer, or does he have to break completely free of the past, his father be damned?
"Being Flynn" answers these questions. The movie is based on a memoir by the real-life Nick Flynn. Whether or not he abandoned his father and refused to help him, left Boston, and began life anew is something you will have to discover for yourself. Obviously, he was able to write a memoir, but the facts behind it are what the film is about.
In some respects, the movie is about broken hearts. Nick's, Jonathan's, and Jody's. In order to save oneself (or to stay true to one's own code for living), how low do you go, how much do you bend, how far do you stoop to adhere to your own principles, no matter how offensive or illegal or dangerous?
De Niro is exceptional, giving a performance that never lets up, never yields to convention. His character is nasty and brutish and delusional. Paul Dano as Nick and Julianne Moore as Jody are also very, very good. The supporting cast is strong on every level, especially once we get inside the homeless shelter, a haven for America's invisible population.
Paul Weitz directs from his own screenplay. He stays true to the powerful range of emotions that the story engenders. There is not a false note of compromise in how Weitz depicts screwed-up people living screwed-up lives, damaging those around them. There's not a moment of cynicism in a single frame of "Being Flynn." Too many of today's filmmakers are afraid to unsettle the audience. "Being Flynn" isn't afraid to shake you a little bit. To sadden you. To make you think.
Too many of today's movies are assembly-line products that might as well be made of plastic. Man robs bank because he must in order to obey the villain who kidnapped his family. Warnings are given. Man secretly works with the cops to undermine the villain. Threats are made. Car chase follows. The Hollywood big studio system is creatively bankrupt. Don't believe me? Read about the latest victim, Disney, and its disaster "John Carter."
And yes, as I wrote above, De Niro (and many, many others) have participated in the dumbing-down of American movies. But at least De Niro has a reservoir of talent he can call upon to return some semblance of intelligence to the screen. He does that and much more in "Being Flynn."
Alas, everything negative that I wrote about Hollywood studio movies is true regarding "21 Jump Street." With no respect for creativity or originality, the film starts out with a hint of freshness and then folds its cards and limps to an utterly pointless conclusion.
I'm certain there were very few calls for the television series "21 Jump Street" being reworked for the big screen, but it's here, and now we have to deal with it. The TV show, an interesting concept about young-looking cops infiltrating high schools to stop crime, ran from 1987 through 1991. It made Johnny Depp popular, which led to his movie career. So at least that was aÊgood thing that came out of it. For the record, I should mention that the program was a product of the prolific and venerable Stephen J. Cannell production company and was the idea of Buffalo'sÊPatrick Hasburgh, who is not connected to this new film version.
The motion picture "21 Jump Street" is typical of today's major studio output. It's overdone and overwrought. Except for the title and concept -- cops going back to high school -- the film has nothing to do with the television series, which was an action drama. The movie is a failed comedy.
It's readily apparent from the beginning that the incompetent directors (Phil Lord and Chris Miller; why it took two people to make this bloated gag-fest escapes me) and the dialogue-challenged screenwriter (Michael Bacall) haven't been to school in a while. They have no clue as to what high school education is like. If they had creative courage or perceptive talent, they would have dared to make a film about what's really going on with teenagers these days. How about cops infiltrating a student population to stop a slaughter?
But we review the hand we are dealt, which is easy, because "21 Jump Street" is infantile and moronic. It's like the Three Stooges, but without the comic timing and withÊone fewer Stooge.
High school classmates Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are a mismatched pair. Would you expect anything less? Anyway, Tatum is an athletic hunk with no brainpower at all. Hill is a chubby blob with no finesse but with plenty of intelligence. The idea that either would be considered for the police academy is absurd, but you go with it.
They manage to help each other as rookie cops-in-training, and eventually end up police officers and part of the Jump Street program that sends undercover spies into high schools. They both look far too old to pass for students.
The thrust of the story is that there's a bad new drug on the scene and the boss cop, played with irritating and embarrassing bombast by Ice Cube, wants a big bust. His name is Captain Dickson. I should mention that most of the amateur and vulgar humor in the movie rises out of the fact that the characters are obsessed with a certain part of the male anatomy.
And that's all there is. Of course, there will be guns and explosions and chases (with cars and otherwise). There's also the strangest prom since "Carrie," but not nearly as interesting or as meaningful or as well-edited.
"21 Jump Street" is as familiar as an underwear drawer and about as pleasant as a dirty clothes hamper. What women and girls exist in the film are marginal characters to be used and abused. As for any gay jokes, what do you think? In director Lord and Miller and screenwriter Bacall's world, homophobia is out-of-the-closet and begging for attention.
If there's any highlight at all in this shallow effort, it's the appearance of James Franco's younger brother Dave. The talent apple didn't fall far from the tree. The Franco boys seem to enjoy spoofing the drug world.
The rest of the acting is mediocre. Tatum and Hill try hard to get into the spirit of the all-encompassing stupidity, but only Tatum manages to marginally survive the mess because he is playing against type and draws a few weak laughs.
After "Moneyball," Hill is back to his whiny and annoying self. If ever an actor needs a good director, it's him. I should mention that Hill co-wrote, with Bacall, the original story upon which the movie is based. The result proves that Hill has no discernible writing ability. He has clearly cribbed from what has come before.
Success eludes "21 Jump Street" because it rips off the past with no sense of the shift in the contemporary mood. Johnny Depp and Patrick Hasburgh should sue.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 20 2012 |