Lyle Maze is a successful painter and sculptor. But he lives a very lonely life, knowing he will never find love. He has Tourette's syndrome, with some OCD thrown in for good measure, and his affliction pretty much shuts him off from the world. What with the spasms, the tics, the strange noises he emits Lyle assumes nobody would ever love him. Loving him would be too much of a challenge. He really has one friend in the world, Mike, a doctor. Mike provides Lyle with the newest medication which would perhaps better control his symptoms. But Lyle refuses to take the pills. A stubborn man he is. But Mike's pretty stubborn too, not to mention oblivious. He's determined to save the world and flies off to Africa for seven months of humanitarian work. He leaves his pregnant girlfriend Callie behind. To be fair he doesn't know she's pregnant but you get the sense he wouldn't much care. So Mike's gone, Callie's all alone, and Lyle is perpetually alone. Pretty easy to see where this is headed.
With Mike out of the picture Lyle and Callie connect. It starts innocently enough with Callie modeling for Lyle. As innocent as nude modeling can be anyway. But the more time they spend together the closer they become. Too close for Lyle's comfort as he doesn't want to betray the absent Mike. But Callie talks him down off the metaphorical ledge and the relationship blooms. He is there for support during her pregnancy. And she draws him out of his shell a bit, opening him up to the possibilities of life and love. She even sets him up on a date with a friend of hers, which his Tourette's causes to go less than well. But at least he tried. Truth is though if there's any woman he's going to love it's Callie herself. Which is obviously problematic.
Rob Morrow, who not only played Lyle but directed the film, made a noble effort here. Lyle's battle to overcome his Tourette's and live a full life is a story which is surely worth being told. But the movie doesn't really work. As an actor Morrow works hard to sell Lyle's Tourette's. But as a director perhaps he should have reined himself in a bit. Morrow oversells it to the point the film quickly becomes very uncomfortable viewing. At some point all the tics and shakes and sounds just become a distraction. The movie's pacing is very slow and there's not much inherent drama. Once Mike takes off for Africa the whole thing becomes rather obvious. The relationship between Lyle and Callie evolves slowly, there are really no big moments to hook the viewer. It all leads up to an ending which on first glance seems clever but when you then think about it it's really a cheat. It's an ending the movie hasn't earned. Nothing we've seen beforehand sells the ending, which is jarringly abrupt, as being particularly plausible. This film was obviously a labor of love for Morrow but he didn't quite pull it off. He got a very good performance out of Laura Linney playing Callie. But his own performance left something to be desired. A challenging character to play to be sure but Morrow never seemed to find the best way to get Lyle's symptoms across. He went too far with his portrayal and the movie didn't go far enough with its story. There just aren't enough interesting things going on here. It's a film with a good message, about an affliction which need not destroy a life. But it's a message which deserved a better movie.
With Mike out of the picture Lyle and Callie connect. It starts innocently enough with Callie modeling for Lyle. As innocent as nude modeling can be anyway. But the more time they spend together the closer they become. Too close for Lyle's comfort as he doesn't want to betray the absent Mike. But Callie talks him down off the metaphorical ledge and the relationship blooms. He is there for support during her pregnancy. And she draws him out of his shell a bit, opening him up to the possibilities of life and love. She even sets him up on a date with a friend of hers, which his Tourette's causes to go less than well. But at least he tried. Truth is though if there's any woman he's going to love it's Callie herself. Which is obviously problematic.
Rob Morrow, who not only played Lyle but directed the film, made a noble effort here. Lyle's battle to overcome his Tourette's and live a full life is a story which is surely worth being told. But the movie doesn't really work. As an actor Morrow works hard to sell Lyle's Tourette's. But as a director perhaps he should have reined himself in a bit. Morrow oversells it to the point the film quickly becomes very uncomfortable viewing. At some point all the tics and shakes and sounds just become a distraction. The movie's pacing is very slow and there's not much inherent drama. Once Mike takes off for Africa the whole thing becomes rather obvious. The relationship between Lyle and Callie evolves slowly, there are really no big moments to hook the viewer. It all leads up to an ending which on first glance seems clever but when you then think about it it's really a cheat. It's an ending the movie hasn't earned. Nothing we've seen beforehand sells the ending, which is jarringly abrupt, as being particularly plausible. This film was obviously a labor of love for Morrow but he didn't quite pull it off. He got a very good performance out of Laura Linney playing Callie. But his own performance left something to be desired. A challenging character to play to be sure but Morrow never seemed to find the best way to get Lyle's symptoms across. He went too far with his portrayal and the movie didn't go far enough with its story. There just aren't enough interesting things going on here. It's a film with a good message, about an affliction which need not destroy a life. But it's a message which deserved a better movie.