Dummy (2002)

An ex-office worker becomes a ventriloquist, leading to a date with his unemployment counselor; but his quirky family and a gauche female friend may thwart his new career and love life.

Director:

Greg Pritikin

Writer:

Greg Pritikin

Stars:

Adrien Brody, Milla Jovovich, Illeana Douglas

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrien Brody	...	Steven
Milla Jovovich	...	Fangora
Illeana Douglas	...	Heidi
Vera Farmiga	...	Lorena
Jessica Walter	...	Fern
Ron Leibman	...	Lou
Jared Harris	...	Michael
Mirabella Pisani	...	Bonnie
Helen Hanft	...	Mrs. Gurkel
Richmond Hoxie	...	Sorensen
Adam LeFevre	...	Theater Director
Joanne Bayes	...	Actress
Lou Martini Jr.	...	Unemployed Italian (as Lou Marini Jr.)
Gabor Morea	...	Unemployed Frottager (as Gabor Mobea)
Edward Hibbert	...	Unemployed Actor

Storyline

Steven, nearly 30 and living with his parents, sees an old Edgar Bergen movie on TV and decides to fulfill his longtime dream of becoming a ventriloquist. His beautiful unemployment counselor Lorena finds him work, but puts out a restraining order on him when he paints a thank-you note on her door. Later, this young mother agrees to date him anyway, but finds his bickering family, and his inexperience with women, daunting to a relationship. Steven's sister Heidi is a wedding planner with a drunken ex-fiancé who keeps showing up at the door. His friend Fangora is a pseudo-punk rocker whose sex does not prevent her from giving him terrible advice about women. The wedding of a Jewish girl, who wants Klezmer music and gets something unexpected, will become a turning point in everyone's lives.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | friend | unemployment | wedding planner | restraining order | 

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Taglines:

Some people can say a lot without moving their lips.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Lionsgate Entertainment

Country:

USA

Language:

English Yiddish

Release Date:

21 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Brzuchomówca

Filming Locations:

Commack, Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$30,120 (USA) (12 September 2003)

Gross:

$71,305 (USA) (3 October 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dummy Productions LLC, Quadrant Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The ventriloquist teacher in the classroom scene (Alan Semok) designed and built the film's title character and also played teacher in real life as Adrien Brody's personal trainer, teaching Brody ventriloquism and puppet manipulation in a three week crash course during preproduction.

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Goofs

"Paris Film Production" is credited for grip/electric twice.

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Quotes

[Family dinner, with Lorena and daughter as guests]
Heidi: [to her mother, Fern] What're you, apologizing to her? She's an unwed mother.
Fern: Better an unwed mother than just plain unwed.

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Crazy Credits

All puppetry and ventriloquism performed live by Adrien Brody.

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Dummy"
(2001) (uncredited)
Written by Tom Szidon
Performed by The Joy Poppers

User Reviews

A Very Funny, Indie Flick With a Novel Theme

Let's face it: even Woody Allen has gotten stale setting up laughs using the stereotypical Jewish dysfunctional family (is there an oxymoron in that description?). It's been done so many times. The welcome surprise is that director and writer Greg Pritikin takes this old kreplach (in place of chestnut) and makes it work with a novel theme brought to life by a terrific cast.

Adrien Brody made this movie before his Oscar-winning portrayal of a gifted Jewish musician in "The Pianist." Here he is a young man, Steve, whose lifelong ambition (he's bordering on thirty) is to become a ventriloquist. He buys a dummy and takes lessons (Brody, who passed fairly well as a concert pianist in his better known film, actually did all the dummy tricks and ventriloquism here).

Steve lives at home with his mom (Jessica Walter) who is forever shoving food at everyone. His dad (Ron Leibman) is retired and he pursues a common hobby of men no longer gainfully employed: making scale model warships while watching hard core porn. Sister Heidi (Ileana Douglas) dreamed of becoming a singer. Her ambition crushed, largely by her scatterbrain mother, she is now a wedding planner, her first big job creating agita in the first degree. She's pursued by a clearly insane former fiance to her distress.

Steve's closest friend from high school days is rock singer Fangera (Milla Jovovich) who has a cum laude Master's in Public Crudity. Their relationship is platonic and Fangera is very albeit crazily devoted to her longtime buddy. Desperate for work for herself and her band, she passes herself off to Heidi as a klezmer specialist, exactly what the despairing wedding planner needs for her first big event. Of course she knows nothing about klezmer music and her immersion in studying that genre is a riot by itself. So is the payoff at the wedding.

Steve, fired from his job, meets employment counselor Lorena (Vera Farmiga) and sparks of all kind begin to fly. Lorena is a single mother with an adorable little girl and she's both attracted to Steve and shy about a commitment. Their relationship, which begins with a weird approach concocted by the barely sane Fangera, rolls back and forth and is kind of touching.

No need to say more about the plot. This fast-paced romantic comedy works with all the principal cast members playing off each other in an often funny and occasionally serious and meaningful way. Surprises are few but when has a ventriloquist's dummy been central to story development in any recent film?

The special features on the DVD are fun. Included is an interactive test in which the viewer answers a series of questions and then finds out what kind of dummy he or she is. I was ranked a ...hey, that's my personal business.

There's also a storyboard history of ventriloquism which points out that this entertainment form allowed, decades ago, a performer to "say" things through his dummy that would have been unacceptable directly from his mouth (including negative comments about politicians).

As usual, reading the credits closely paid off. The technical adviser was Paul Winchell and the assistant technical adviser...Jerry Mahoney. I think you have to be from my generation to appreciate that.

8/10