Somewhere in this jumbled mess of a movie are the bones of a decent story. For the first half hour, it seemed like that story would emerge. Maybe it did, I dunno. It's hard to tell with all the wasted fat they draped over those bones. These storytellers seemed to want to go in five directions at once and all I can tell you is that they never went the right way.
In a sense, "Proxy" feels like two distinct movies, the first one middling, the second one crap. And at some point, the filmmakers got lazy. The tattooed girlfriend is about six different cliches rolled into one and her dialogue feels like it was written by a coddled teenager trying to come off as streetwise.
The aftermath of a very important murder is presented so poorly it borders on laughable. The police, investigating the murder of a child and the double shotgun blasting of the killer didn't notice an abandoned truck parked outside? They never went to the killer's home in search of clues to the baffling murder? Hell, when the dad calls the detective with a potential clue, the detective on the case barely remembers him. I don't care if you're in downtown Chicago. The murder of an 8 year old boy and the killing of the woman who drowned him would be big news.
And speaking of news, the way these writers presented the media was atrocious. At one point, the mother of the dead child calls in offering up an interview. "Sorry, ma'am," the reporter tells her. "We already ran a segment on that case.." Are you FREAKIN' kidding me? Have you MET the media? Mothers of dead children get immediate and close attention always.
In the newspaper, the names of the victims of the bizarre killing are named because "they requested privacy," according to the newspaper clipping. Again, have you MET the media? That's not how that works.
This movie was sloppy, ambling and poorly executed. It's about a half hour of intrigue followed by 90 minutes of looking at your watch. It was so disappointing to me, I'm not going to even fumble for a clever last line with which to conclude this review.
So take that.
In a sense, "Proxy" feels like two distinct movies, the first one middling, the second one crap. And at some point, the filmmakers got lazy. The tattooed girlfriend is about six different cliches rolled into one and her dialogue feels like it was written by a coddled teenager trying to come off as streetwise.
The aftermath of a very important murder is presented so poorly it borders on laughable. The police, investigating the murder of a child and the double shotgun blasting of the killer didn't notice an abandoned truck parked outside? They never went to the killer's home in search of clues to the baffling murder? Hell, when the dad calls the detective with a potential clue, the detective on the case barely remembers him. I don't care if you're in downtown Chicago. The murder of an 8 year old boy and the killing of the woman who drowned him would be big news.
And speaking of news, the way these writers presented the media was atrocious. At one point, the mother of the dead child calls in offering up an interview. "Sorry, ma'am," the reporter tells her. "We already ran a segment on that case.." Are you FREAKIN' kidding me? Have you MET the media? Mothers of dead children get immediate and close attention always.
In the newspaper, the names of the victims of the bizarre killing are named because "they requested privacy," according to the newspaper clipping. Again, have you MET the media? That's not how that works.
This movie was sloppy, ambling and poorly executed. It's about a half hour of intrigue followed by 90 minutes of looking at your watch. It was so disappointing to me, I'm not going to even fumble for a clever last line with which to conclude this review.
So take that.