To Cross the Rubicon (1991)

Director:

Barry Caillier

Writers:

Lorraine Devon (writer)
Patricia Royce (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Patricia Royce	...	Kendall Byrne
Lorraine Devon	...	Claire
J.D. Souther	...	David Berry
Wade Madsen	...	John Halpern
Billy Burke	...	James Bird
Bruce P. Young	...	Lee Wilke
David Crosby	...	Damian Lyndell
Mark Jenkins	...	Stuart Taylor-Ford
Susan Drummond	...	Penny Janowitz
Jeff Morgan	...	Rod (James' Friend)
Art Kahn	...	Mr. Thramulta
Piper Henry	...	Ellen
Mike Williams	...	Jason Merriman
Randy Dixon	...	Mark the Desk Clerk
Mark Dempsey	...	Alan Broadmore

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Soundtrack:

GRAVE DANCE

This movie examining male/female relationships is definitely for chicks only.

The story is about two women who become friends when they discover that the man that dumped one of them also had a previous relationship with the other. It follows their struggles with getting over relationships, finding new ones, and moving on. (Did I mention that this was a "chick-flick"?)

This movie would have benefited greatly from better art direction, and better editing. There is a lot of ghastly blue lighting that doesn't flatter any of the actors. The dialogue was mostly intelligent, but there was too much of it -- and all of it is shown in medium shots with the actors jawing at each other. And a tip for beginning directors who have no budget for a costumer: for gosh sakes, DON'T film your lead actress wearing a hat through an entire scene, unless you have the budget to light her face properly!!! It is not only a disservice to her, but is distracting to the audience because they can't see her acting!!!

It says a lot for the strength of the story that despite these handicaps I found the movie to hold my attention (apart for some fast-forwarding through excess dialogue). The actors do a good job --heroic, really, considering all of the useless talking they're required to do. Quite a few of the scenes show some semblance of wit. (Check out the saxophone quartet on a street corner, and Dave Crosby's cameo.) The movie actually has a good message to deliver but remember, it's for chicks only. I kept wishing that someone would've re-written some of the scenes, or edited out some of the extraneous dialogue. Perhaps this movie could serve as an example of how not to direct one?

Nonetheless and all in all, worth the three bucks I paid for the DVD, but not much more than that. (Let me also add that I've paid more than that for videos that I couldn't manage to watch through to their end.)