MY MOVIE SHELF: Natural Born Killers

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 89 Days to go: 59

Movie #351:  Natural Born Killers

Sex, violence, fame and exploitation are all jumbled together in Natural Born Killers. Does the media depiction of violence cause it to escalate in real life or do they merely glorify something that already exists? In this film, the message is that it’s a symbiotic system, cyclically feeding, growing and regenerating, over and over. One bleeds into another, and like two serpents intertwined, there doesn’t seem to be a beginning or an end.

The film is intentionally frenetic, employing a multitude of different film styles to imitate the seeming reckless abandon Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) have toward sex and life and murder. Director Oliver Stone uses animation, black and white photography, and psychedelic, seemingly random, unconnected images to drive home the feeling of unease and instability. To further blur the line between Mickey and Mallory’s real lives and their portrayal in the media, they are often shown on television shows (interspersed with commercials, of course) or on news coverage or even in TV parodies. There’s even the character of Wayne Gale (played by Robert Downey Jr. doing an awful — and possibly cocaine-fueled — British accent), an exploitative TV “journalist” more concerned with sensationalism and ratings than objective coverage of a story. Generally I don’t much care for this level of stylized nonsense in a film, but here it’s pretty effective in making the statement Stone wants to make about the culture of fame and infamy. Even Gale, when given a taste for violence, falls as easily into line with it as he was to having a hot TV show.

In this movie, everyone is corrupt. Everyone is a fame whore. Everyone wants a piece of the action. Whether it’s Detective Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore), strangling prostitutes and writing overblown bestsellers on himself, or Warden Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones) more worried about the press coverage of his prison than the safety and security of his guards and prisoners, no one is, as Mickey explains, innocent. In fact, Mickey and Mallory are veritable heroes of the tale, killing the wicked (like her awful parents or Scagnetti or Gale or whatever pervert sexually assaults her in a diner while she’s trying to dance). That angle is played up so much, in fact, (as opposed to the indiscriminate killing they do to just about anyone else) and they’re given such a triumphant ending, that the movie itself becomes another form of glorification, and that can get problematic.

Harrelson and Lewis are spectacular in their roles — hypnotic, compelling and convincing in their insanity as much as their frenzied lust for one another — and seem to take on the personas of their characters in every different iteration the movie places them in, be it a hammy sitcom or a drug-induced fever dream or an overblown, cinematic murder spree. And Lewis, especially, shows a lot of range, not just with her riotous anger but with her cloying insecurity about whether or not Mickey finds her sexy anymore when he wants to kidnap other women — and she can switch from one extreme to another at the drop of a hat. (Shout out to good ol’ Balthazar Getty as the gas station attendant who paid the ultimate price for his too eager, harried cunnilingus skills.)

Natural Born Killers is not a film I care for too much, but it does have its place in the landscape of the discussion about the culture of the media and the effect and role of sex and violence and sensationalism within it. That being said, though, I wish the film had wound up with Mickey and Mallory enjoying the fate that really awaits them in this murderous scenario of theirs: dead. That’s a happier ending, to me, than the one Oliver Stone thinks he left us with.

 

MY MOVIE SHELF: Big Trouble

This is the deal: I own around 350 movies on DVD and Blu-ray. Through June 10, 2015, I will be watching and writing about them all, in the order they are arranged on my shelf (i.e., alphabetically, with certain exceptions). No movie will be left unwatched . I welcome your comments, your words of encouragement and your declarations of my insanity.

Movie #31: Big Trouble

Big Trouble is the absolute funniest movie no one has ever seen.

Originally slated for release on September 21, 2001, the movie (which features hitmen smuggling rifles in golf bags onto cross-country flights, comically lax airport security, and two idiotic thugs who buy their way onto a plane travelling to the Bahamas carrying no identification, a veritable cannon of a handgun, two hostages and a nuclear weapon in a suitcase) was understandably delayed after the 9/11 attacks and came out to absolutely no fanfare on April 5 of the following year. You can’t begrudge the studio, really. There was no other option at the time. But the film is unbelievably hilarious, and I really wish more people had seen it.

Based on the novel by humorist Dave Barry, it centers around an unlikable man named Arthur Herk and the seven or so pairs of people who converge at and around his Miami house over the course of a couple days. The plot is tight and seamless, wasting no time whatsoever (it clocks in at 85 minutes) in telling its very silly story. Not wanting to just recite the plot, however, or give away the many great jokes, I’ll instead focus on the numerous relevant characters.

Tim Allen plays Eliot Arnold, the Dave Barry stand-in. He’s a former humorist at the Miami Herald, recently divorced and trying to make it as an independent ad man. He lives in a crappy apartment, drives a Geo, and his son Matt thinks he’s a loser.  He’s also the protagonist, narrator and hero. He finds himself thrown together with Herk’s wife Anna on several occasions as Matt tries to tag Anna’s daughter Jenny with a squirt gun for a school game.

Rene Russo is Anna Herk. Formerly divorced herself, she stays with Arthur out of fear of losing the financial security he provides. The first time she meets Matt, she’s jumping onto his back to protect Jenny from his (squirt) gun attack. She finds Eliot incredibly handsome and charming.

Ben Foster and Zooey Deschanel are Matt and Jenny. Ben is the perfect snot-nosed teen and Zooey, especially, is tops as a dry witty girl with that signature sarcastic monotone. They frequently interact with Matt’s friend Andrew, played by DJ Qualls, who is mostly inconsequential but who has some great lines and who I mention because I love DJ Qualls.

Stanley Tucci is Arthur Herk. He works for a mob-run construction company, has stolen money from them, and has a hit put out on him because of it. He’s abrasive and rude, tries to intimidate his maid into having an affair of sorts with him, and he’s got a crazy foot fetish. He’s also fixated with television and Martha Stewart.

Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler play hitmen Henry and Leonard. They’re from New York, where hitmen know how to be hitmen, and they hate Miami. They have no use or patience for muggers, Gator fans or cigar-smoking assholes.

Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton are Miami police officers Romero and Kramitz. Romero is no-nonsense. Kramitz is a little-nonsense.

Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville are greasy, dirty, idiot petty criminals Snake and Eddie. They are beyond stupid, and Snake is a bit mean. Slighted early on in the movie, they return to bring about all the events leading directly to the climax.

Jason Lee and Sofia Vergara are Puggy and Nina. Puggy is a homeless drifter who looks like Jesus. He has a gentle soul and is insanely strong. He loves Fritos and Nina. Nina is the Herks’ maid. She is loyal and kind to Anna and Jenny, but she’s constantly fleeing Arthur and his foot fetish. Nina loves Puggy at first sight (when she briefly mistakes him for Jesus).

Heavy D and Omar Epps are FBI agents after the bomb in the suitcase. (It looks like a garbage disposal.) They act almost exclusively under Executive Order 768-4, which apparently gives them the freedom to do whatever the hell they want.

Andy Richter plays twins who both work as security guards, one at the Bayside mall and one at the airport. He maybe abuses his power a little.

And that about does it. If that ensemble doesn’t tickle your funny bone with the promise of comedy that is both intelligent and absurd, then nothing will. It’s a very funny movie, and it is definitely worth your time.