And then there’s the curious Sundance ’10 case study of Mark Ruffalo.
The rugged, Brandoesque character actor unveiled his directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious, here in Park City and…how can I put this? It’s a freakin’ mess. You can see what he’s going for in this satire about a bitter, homeless paraplegic and former turntablist named DJ Delicious D (screenwriter Christopher Thornton) who suddenly finds himself blessed with a healing touch. A priest (Ruffalo) wants to use D’s powers to fund a “state-of-the-art homeless shelter”; two scuzzy rock stars (Juliette Lewis and Orlando Bloom) see the reluctant miracle worker as an opportunity to break their band into the big time. Cue digs about fame, faith, fate and the fact that Angelenos are often a-holes.
Had Ruffalo tackled this story after having a few smaller or less ambitious projects under his cineaste belt, Sympathy might have worked a little more smoothly. But balancing between broad swipes at media exploitation à la Billy Wilder and exploring Christian notions of channeling God requires a sure hand, and he doesn’t yet have the directorial chops to sustain it. Too many of the movie’s targets read as clichés—Laura Linney’s reptilian band manager being the worst offender—and what little steam is built up peters out before the climax. The feeling that this premise might have been served better as a short is hard to shake.
But Ruffalo wasn’t at the festival solely as a first-timer; he also did double duty as an actor in Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right, and the disparity between the two films could not be more evident. The current breakout film du jour of the festival (next to Catfish…more on that one tomorrow), this unpredictable left-of-center farce about two lesbian moms (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) dealing with the fallout of meeting their kids’ dim-witted sperm donor (guess who?) delivers on all fronts. By the time you read this, this last-minute addition to the fest will hopefully have a distributor, as a character-driven comedy this eloquent and complicated shouldn’t sit on a shelf.
Seriously, who knew that the usually somber Cholodenko—see High Art or Laurel Canyon—could do funny and breezy so well, or that the normally brittle Bening had such a facility for graceful comic timing? That Moore and Ruffalo are both brilliant will shock nobody, especially once his character’s granola-crunchy charm starts working on his newly adopted family. Yet to see the actor in full-court-press mode—investing a typical dude with layers of complexity, humanity, confusion and goofy verve—only underlines what’s missing from his own film. Perhaps I’m blinded by my own fandom—I truly believe he’s one of the most interesting and talented actors working today—and I’d never suggest that he shouldn’t try his hand at directing again. But baby steps, my man. It’d be a shame to see another great star get sucked into the vortex of thinking he’s tomorrow’s Scorsese when he’s already today’s Ruffalo.
Source:timeoutny.com/