Written and directed by identical twins Jonas and Joshua Pate ("The Grave"), "Deceiver" is set in the brothers' hometown of Charleston, S.C., where a prostitute's murder entangles bad cops and a snooty rich guy in a deadly game of deception.
The MGM release will be lost among the crowd on a busy opening weekend and quickly exit the scene. With the exception of Renee Zellweger in her sexiest role, featured players Tim Roth, Chris Penn and Michael Rooker are ill-served by the filmmakers' overwrought direction and weak dialogue.
Set in a police station where rookie technician Braxton (Penn) and 20-year vet Kennesaw (Rooker) give murder suspect Wayland (Roth) numerous lie-detector tests, the central gambit of "Deceiver" is reminiscent of "Quiz Show". Indeed, the co-author of this puzzling mess, Jonas Pate, was inspired by his experiences as a game show contestant, particularly when he was hooked up to a polygraph machine.
Lurid, feverish, unpredictable in a bad way -- one comes to dread what ridiculous twist or revelation is up next -- the Pates' second film, after unveiling their first at Sundance in 1996, is lacking in verisimilitude, coherence and appealing characters.
The dreary process of hooking up Wayland and getting him to answer questions consumes a lot of screen time. While the investigation is still in the preliminary stages, lower-class crusader Kennesaw wants blue-blood Wayland to confess to the slaying of Elizabeth (Zellweger), a hooker whose body was cut in half.
There are reasons to be suspicious of the cagey Wayland. The Black Sheep of a wealthy family, he's not much above the gutter himself, and he's an alcoholic with temporal lobe epilepsy to boot. Already prone to blackouts and false memories, Wayland has a potentially suicidal attraction to absinthe and whores.
He may be capable of murder when he's out of control, but Wayland maintains he is innocent while he works on Kennesaw's shaky self-esteem. This accused-accusing-the-accusers twist leads ultimately to the surprise murderer, but getting there is a chore.
One of several subplots that don't work involves the devious character of Mook (Ellen Burstyn), an underworld figure who puts pressure on hapless Braxton to pay off a sizable debt, while Rosanna Arquette is given the thankless task of playing Kennesaw's unfaithful but conciliatory wife.
Jumping between fantasies, memories and heated exchanges, the film is overloaded with technique in a fruitless attempt to maintain tension and keep one's attention from wandering. More than once, the Pates' unintentionally laughable stylistic flourishes underscore the dubiousness of the project.
DECEIVER
MGM
MDP Worldwide presents
a Peter Glatzer production
A Pate Brothers film
Writer-directors: Jonas and Joshua Pate
Producer: Peter Glatzer
Director of photography: Bill Butler
Production designer: John Kretschmer
Editor: Dan Lebental
Executive producer: Mark Damon
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Costume designer: Dana Allyson Greenberg
Casting: Laurel Smith
Color/stereo
Cast:
Wayland: Tim Roth
Braxton: Chris Penn
Kennesaw: Michael Rooker
Elizabeth: Renee Zellweger
Mook: Ellen Burstyn
Mrs. Kennesaw: Rosanna Arquette
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The MGM release will be lost among the crowd on a busy opening weekend and quickly exit the scene. With the exception of Renee Zellweger in her sexiest role, featured players Tim Roth, Chris Penn and Michael Rooker are ill-served by the filmmakers' overwrought direction and weak dialogue.
Set in a police station where rookie technician Braxton (Penn) and 20-year vet Kennesaw (Rooker) give murder suspect Wayland (Roth) numerous lie-detector tests, the central gambit of "Deceiver" is reminiscent of "Quiz Show". Indeed, the co-author of this puzzling mess, Jonas Pate, was inspired by his experiences as a game show contestant, particularly when he was hooked up to a polygraph machine.
Lurid, feverish, unpredictable in a bad way -- one comes to dread what ridiculous twist or revelation is up next -- the Pates' second film, after unveiling their first at Sundance in 1996, is lacking in verisimilitude, coherence and appealing characters.
The dreary process of hooking up Wayland and getting him to answer questions consumes a lot of screen time. While the investigation is still in the preliminary stages, lower-class crusader Kennesaw wants blue-blood Wayland to confess to the slaying of Elizabeth (Zellweger), a hooker whose body was cut in half.
There are reasons to be suspicious of the cagey Wayland. The Black Sheep of a wealthy family, he's not much above the gutter himself, and he's an alcoholic with temporal lobe epilepsy to boot. Already prone to blackouts and false memories, Wayland has a potentially suicidal attraction to absinthe and whores.
He may be capable of murder when he's out of control, but Wayland maintains he is innocent while he works on Kennesaw's shaky self-esteem. This accused-accusing-the-accusers twist leads ultimately to the surprise murderer, but getting there is a chore.
One of several subplots that don't work involves the devious character of Mook (Ellen Burstyn), an underworld figure who puts pressure on hapless Braxton to pay off a sizable debt, while Rosanna Arquette is given the thankless task of playing Kennesaw's unfaithful but conciliatory wife.
Jumping between fantasies, memories and heated exchanges, the film is overloaded with technique in a fruitless attempt to maintain tension and keep one's attention from wandering. More than once, the Pates' unintentionally laughable stylistic flourishes underscore the dubiousness of the project.
DECEIVER
MGM
MDP Worldwide presents
a Peter Glatzer production
A Pate Brothers film
Writer-directors: Jonas and Joshua Pate
Producer: Peter Glatzer
Director of photography: Bill Butler
Production designer: John Kretschmer
Editor: Dan Lebental
Executive producer: Mark Damon
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Costume designer: Dana Allyson Greenberg
Casting: Laurel Smith
Color/stereo
Cast:
Wayland: Tim Roth
Braxton: Chris Penn
Kennesaw: Michael Rooker
Elizabeth: Renee Zellweger
Mook: Ellen Burstyn
Mrs. Kennesaw: Rosanna Arquette
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/30/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CHICAGO -- To win cult status, films must be at least one of the following: brainy, warped, poorly shot, stuffed with weird production design, have an oddball cast and revel in the excessive. Cultie aspirant ''Motorama'' has one of the above, but how much enthusiasm can one muster for seeing Michael J. Pollard on the screen again?
''Motorama, '' alas, is not likely to appeal to those with three-digit IQs. Its most receptive audience may be among pre-teens, defying the curfew order.
Narratively, ''Motorama, '' screened here at the Chicago International Film Festival, sounds like it has got a lot going for it: a 10-year-old (Jordan Chrisopher Michael) sets out in a stolen red Mustang on a cross-Southwest states quest to win a gas station game. If the tyke can garner all the letters in the word ''motorama, '' he wins $500 million.
His venture is not sparked purely by the passions of winning the big bucks but are prompted by his, as the social scientist types would say, ''dysfunctional home life.''
Admittedly, brainy blond boys, in this post-Macaulay Culkin age, are disarmingly sympathetic characters when triumphing over dimball adults, but after the first few narrative miles, ''Motorama'' runs out of story gas. Kid drives car, stops for gas, gets contest tickets from cooty station attendant; drives off, stops for gas, gets tickets from goofball station attendant; drives off, stops for gas . . . on and on.
While there are glints and squints of the vast Southwest here that contain glimmers of satirical intelligence, ''Motorama'' is, for the most part, a dumb-numb ride. In Joseph Minion's monochromatic script, even the roadside loons are all of a similar dimension. Under Barry Shils' direction, ''Motorama'' comes across as being kind of a city slicker's apprehension of the weird outposts of the way-out West.
Technical contributions are sagely mounted: Dana Allyson's costume design is rightly wacko, while Vincent Jefferds and Cathlyn Marshall's production design conveys a peculiarly parched panorama.
MOTORAMA
Proletariat Productions Corp.
Producer Donald P. Borchers
Director Barry Shils
Screenwriter Joseph Minion
Editor Peter Verity
Music Andy Summers
Director of photography Joseph Yacoe
Costume design Dana Allyson
Production designer Vincent Jefferds, Cathlyn Marshall
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Gus Jordan Christopher Michael
Phil John Diehl
Miss Lawton Robin Duke
Vern Meatloaf
Lewie Michael J. Pollard
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
''Motorama, '' alas, is not likely to appeal to those with three-digit IQs. Its most receptive audience may be among pre-teens, defying the curfew order.
Narratively, ''Motorama, '' screened here at the Chicago International Film Festival, sounds like it has got a lot going for it: a 10-year-old (Jordan Chrisopher Michael) sets out in a stolen red Mustang on a cross-Southwest states quest to win a gas station game. If the tyke can garner all the letters in the word ''motorama, '' he wins $500 million.
His venture is not sparked purely by the passions of winning the big bucks but are prompted by his, as the social scientist types would say, ''dysfunctional home life.''
Admittedly, brainy blond boys, in this post-Macaulay Culkin age, are disarmingly sympathetic characters when triumphing over dimball adults, but after the first few narrative miles, ''Motorama'' runs out of story gas. Kid drives car, stops for gas, gets contest tickets from cooty station attendant; drives off, stops for gas, gets tickets from goofball station attendant; drives off, stops for gas . . . on and on.
While there are glints and squints of the vast Southwest here that contain glimmers of satirical intelligence, ''Motorama'' is, for the most part, a dumb-numb ride. In Joseph Minion's monochromatic script, even the roadside loons are all of a similar dimension. Under Barry Shils' direction, ''Motorama'' comes across as being kind of a city slicker's apprehension of the weird outposts of the way-out West.
Technical contributions are sagely mounted: Dana Allyson's costume design is rightly wacko, while Vincent Jefferds and Cathlyn Marshall's production design conveys a peculiarly parched panorama.
MOTORAMA
Proletariat Productions Corp.
Producer Donald P. Borchers
Director Barry Shils
Screenwriter Joseph Minion
Editor Peter Verity
Music Andy Summers
Director of photography Joseph Yacoe
Costume design Dana Allyson
Production designer Vincent Jefferds, Cathlyn Marshall
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Gus Jordan Christopher Michael
Phil John Diehl
Miss Lawton Robin Duke
Vern Meatloaf
Lewie Michael J. Pollard
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 10/15/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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