Home Media Magazine - April 13-19, 2008 - (Page 24) REVIEWS I INTERSTATE Prebook 4/18; Street 5/27 Vanguard, Thriller, $19.95 DVD, NR. Stars Shiloh Fernandez, Reggie Bannister, Alexandra Ackerman. Edited by John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com R emember that time you went on a cross-country road trip with one goal in mind and ended up hitchhiking with a stranger, accepting his speed pills for “energy,” and then somehow dropping his body off in the middle of nowhere? That’s the exact predicament that Edgar (Fernandez), a Montreal DJ on his way to Los Angeles to meet his girlfriend, finds himself trying to figure out in Marc Samson’s Interstate. As if that wasn’t trippy enough, Edgar still opts to pick up two suspiciouslooking girls, Veronica and Gloria, who claim to be stranded after being mugged. Coincidentally, of course, their destination is Los Angeles. The film has a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-ish mood, as the backdrop consists of drive-ins, weird diners, old gas stations and the stereotypical stuffy Tiki motel. Edgar, the good Samaritan, puts up with the two girls in spite of Veronica’s annoying habit of prying and Gloria’s extremely irritating habit of not talking and taking Polaroids of just about everything. The trip takes a weirder turn when Veronica decides it would be entertaining to offer Edgar some gum with a splash of acid. Edgar’s perception of the world after that sweet gum is something straight out of the mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm. His inability to drive the vehicle lands them at that wonderful Tiki motel, where Veronica and Gloria take advantage of his state and drive some dark confessions out of Edgar in order to blackmail him for everything he has. You’d think Edgar was done for, but no — it gets trippier. I promise. Interstate took the Silver Award at the Houston International Film Festival, an honorable mention at the American Screenplay Festival and third place for best feature at the Reelheart Toronto Film Festival. – Ruby Cardenas I LAST REQUEST Street 4/22 MTI, Comedy, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for sexual content. Stars Danny Aiello, T.R. Knight, Sabrina Lloyd, Mario Cantone, Vincent Pastore, Gilbert Gottfried, Frank Vincent, Joe Piscopo, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Birdsong, Barbara Feldon, Nick Scotti. L ast Request is a laugh-out-loud dark comedy about a dying stand-up comic (Pop, played by Emmy winner/Oscar nominee Aiello) who wants one of his two sons to get married and carry on the family name with a child before he passes away. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, since his son Tom (Scotti) is a serial womanizer who enjoys sleeping with different women every night, while his other son, Jeff (Knight of “Grey’s Anatomy”), has dedicated his life to God by joining the seminary. Unable to deny his father’s dying wish, Tom quickly ditches his bachelor lifestyle and marries one of his favorite girls, only to be killed in an ironic wedding-night accident when the mirror suspended above their bed comes crashing down on them during the height of ecstasy. Now as the only surviving son, Jeff’s parents pressure him to leave the seminary so he can start his search for love and sex — not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, his carnal quest turns into a disastrous 40-Year-Old Virgin scenario, with Jeff landing one oddball woman after another, including a lunatic dominatrix, a transvestite who was a former schoolmate, and jealous Siamese twins. The only normal girl in Jeff’s life works alongside him at the retirement home. But with the clock ticking, Jeff is under the gun to overcome his shyness and spark a romance with his lovely co-worker Cathy (Lloyd) before his father passes away. Last Request proves to be a star-studded, quick-witted comedy reminiscent of Rodney Dangerfield’s old films. It’s really brought to life by former “Saturday Night Live” writer John DeBellis, who deserves a lot of credit for writing and directing such a hilarious first film. Besides its leads, Aiello and Knight, the film also features amusing cameos by Joe Piscopo, Gilbert Gottfried and Mario Cantone (“Sex and the City”). While Last Request is far from your typical love story, its quirkiness offers a certain charm, and its diverse ensemble cast should give it mass appeal. – Matt Miller I ROMULUS, MY FATHER Street 4/22 Magnolia, Drama, B.O. $0.004 million, $26.98 DVD, ‘R’ for sexuality, some violence and brief language. Stars Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Kodi Smit-McPhee. S et against a backdrop of bleak rural poverty in Australia’s hinterlands, Romulus, My Father is the story of one family’s struggle to endure tragedy and survive. A little boy named Raimond (SmitMcPhee) lives in the outback with his immigrant father Romulus (Bana), a blacksmith, and his mother (Potente), who is touched by mental illness and drops in and out of their lives. Father and mother cannot bear to be together and cannot bear to casionally boils at the surface and then recedes as his character tries to parent his son. And Potente evokes a deep and permeating sadness as a woman who tries on new life after new life, looking in vain for one that fits. But the real revelation of Romulus, My Father, is Smit-McPhee, through whose eyes the film unfolds. He is perfect as a boy whose circumstances have forced him to understand things be apart. But when she becomes ripples through the boy’s extended beyond his understanding and shoulder burdens way beyond his years. pregnant with another man’s child, family, leaving no one untouched. Romulus, My Father is a riveting The story, told from a child’s Romulus tries to come to terms with point of view, recalls other similarly study of how some immigrants adapt the idea of a life without her. After the child is born, Raimond’s themed and equally affecting pic- and some cannot adapt to their new mother sinks deeper into despair, tures, including This Boy’s Life and homes, and a metaphor for the imporand his father retreats into himself. Careful, He Might Hear You. Bana tance of home in a child’s life. And one life-shattering moment simmers with an intensity that oc– Anne Sherber 24 Home Media Magazine April 13–19, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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