I spotted the DVD version of this film on the shelf of a local Blockbuster video recently, and being partial to both borderline fantasy flicks and Jazz-Age period films ("Road to Perdition" and "Chicago"), I rented it, utterly on a whim.
And what a whim! Granted, the script is a little thin, but if you can watch this with an open mind and heart (and especially if you're a fan of old movies), you will find yourself pleased and delighted. This is at one in the same time a gleeful homage to the silent films and early talkies of the 1920s and '30s and a gentle satire of modern life. Gibson Frazier as the hero, glib but honest New York newspaperman Johnny Twennies, deftly revitalizes the all-but forgotten Jazz-Age cinematic stock character 'the heroic reporter', bringing charm and joy to the bleakness of the 1990s which he finds himself thrust into. Like the chronologically stranded 19th century hero of "Kate and Leopold", he manages to manuever the hazards of modern life, always coming out on top: saving the day, chivalrously helping damsels in distress, and, true to the Jazz-Age convention, belting out a few period tunes along the way.
A strand of a plot exists, but the film is basically an 80 minute character sketch. Set aside any expectation of any major epiphanies...but there again, one can consider Johnny as the "noble savage" in reverse. Almost everyone around him is seen as crabby and foul-mouthed, whereas Johnny is perpetually cheerful, resorting to colorful 1920s slang instead of cussing the air blue, and using his keen wits rather than his fists to get out of a dangerous situation. Anyone disillusioned with the crassness of violent, untidy, monosyllabic movie heroes will find this live wire in a three-piece suit and fedora a welcome breath of fresh air. Ladies, take note: If you're looking for a guy who's a gentle man as well as a gentleman, once you've watched this film, you'll find yourself wishing you could find your own "Man of the Century".
And what a whim! Granted, the script is a little thin, but if you can watch this with an open mind and heart (and especially if you're a fan of old movies), you will find yourself pleased and delighted. This is at one in the same time a gleeful homage to the silent films and early talkies of the 1920s and '30s and a gentle satire of modern life. Gibson Frazier as the hero, glib but honest New York newspaperman Johnny Twennies, deftly revitalizes the all-but forgotten Jazz-Age cinematic stock character 'the heroic reporter', bringing charm and joy to the bleakness of the 1990s which he finds himself thrust into. Like the chronologically stranded 19th century hero of "Kate and Leopold", he manages to manuever the hazards of modern life, always coming out on top: saving the day, chivalrously helping damsels in distress, and, true to the Jazz-Age convention, belting out a few period tunes along the way.
A strand of a plot exists, but the film is basically an 80 minute character sketch. Set aside any expectation of any major epiphanies...but there again, one can consider Johnny as the "noble savage" in reverse. Almost everyone around him is seen as crabby and foul-mouthed, whereas Johnny is perpetually cheerful, resorting to colorful 1920s slang instead of cussing the air blue, and using his keen wits rather than his fists to get out of a dangerous situation. Anyone disillusioned with the crassness of violent, untidy, monosyllabic movie heroes will find this live wire in a three-piece suit and fedora a welcome breath of fresh air. Ladies, take note: If you're looking for a guy who's a gentle man as well as a gentleman, once you've watched this film, you'll find yourself wishing you could find your own "Man of the Century".