It's never a pleasure to report that a film project brought to life largely through the efforts of someone whose work you greatly admire is a misfire, but such is the case with "Jack Goes Boating."
Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best actors currently working, directed, co-wrote and stars in this oddball "comedy" about two sad sacks who find love in each other. It's like a darker, updated version of "Marty," with Hoffman standing in for Ernest Borgnine and the part of the wallflower, played memorably by Betsy Blair in the earlier film, played here by Amy Ryan. However, there's no rooting interest in this film as there was in "Marty." The characters played by Hoffman and Ryan are so weird, Ryan's especially, as to be nearly mentally ill. Indeed, Ryan's character is terribly written, as is the only other female character in the movie, a mutual friend played by Daphne Rubin-Vega as a vicious harpy. Her husband is Hoffman's best friend, and the film's major set piece is a disastrous dinner party at which Hoffman and Ryan watch their married friends, along with their marriage, self-destruct before their very eyes. I guess we're supposed to understand from this why Hoffman and Ryan are both so relationship shy; neither wants to end up in something as awful as the marriage that apparently serves as their only frame of reference. Are there no other married couples in the entire city of New York who might set a different example?
The tone and pacing of the film is stilted and odd, as if Hoffman was trying too hard to give his film a quirky vibe. It's only 90 minutes long but it feels much longer thanks to the numerous slow and painful conversations we have to endure from these characters who remain at best obtuse and at worst downright unlikable.
Grade: C
Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best actors currently working, directed, co-wrote and stars in this oddball "comedy" about two sad sacks who find love in each other. It's like a darker, updated version of "Marty," with Hoffman standing in for Ernest Borgnine and the part of the wallflower, played memorably by Betsy Blair in the earlier film, played here by Amy Ryan. However, there's no rooting interest in this film as there was in "Marty." The characters played by Hoffman and Ryan are so weird, Ryan's especially, as to be nearly mentally ill. Indeed, Ryan's character is terribly written, as is the only other female character in the movie, a mutual friend played by Daphne Rubin-Vega as a vicious harpy. Her husband is Hoffman's best friend, and the film's major set piece is a disastrous dinner party at which Hoffman and Ryan watch their married friends, along with their marriage, self-destruct before their very eyes. I guess we're supposed to understand from this why Hoffman and Ryan are both so relationship shy; neither wants to end up in something as awful as the marriage that apparently serves as their only frame of reference. Are there no other married couples in the entire city of New York who might set a different example?
The tone and pacing of the film is stilted and odd, as if Hoffman was trying too hard to give his film a quirky vibe. It's only 90 minutes long but it feels much longer thanks to the numerous slow and painful conversations we have to endure from these characters who remain at best obtuse and at worst downright unlikable.
Grade: C