|
|
I knew Chinatown; Chinatown was a friend of mine; you're no Chinatown.
Why Robert Towne chose to keep his name in the credits deserves more discussion than the movie itself. The script is really bad. All atmosphere and no substance makes it impossible for the actors to find any emotion, much less the appropriate one, to bring to the story beats. So they end up winging every scene.
Each of the actors adopts a different strategy Raul Julia overplays, Mel Gibson charms his way, Kurt Russell out dresses everyone, while Michelle Pfeiffer just demurs. Hollow, hollow, hollow stuff. And that love scene: how does a girl with her head seemingly screwed on right suddenly go that overboard. Okay, you can make together, but "I want to marry you."? If you want a film combining substance, atmosphere, plus style, try LA Confidential. Curtis Hanson would have trashed the Tequila script and started over again, but then he's a great director who knows the secret is starting with a good script. Which brings us back to Towne. I guess he just lost his touch.
score 1/10
jjsemple 31 October 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1206026/ |
|
1-12-2019 08:29:52
