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The Chosen One (2010)
If you love Rob Schneider, you'll probably hate this quiet and quaint movie.
If you love Rob Schneider, you'll probably hate this movie. It is quiet and quaint like you've never seen him before, and there isn't a ridiculous catchphrase within 100 yards of it.
Schneider plays Paul Zadzik, an obnoxious, Elvis impersonating car salesman, a caricature of the Los Angeles success story. He has lost his way. The film begins after his fall, which is uncommon for this genre but works well here and allows Schneider to develop intricate relationships with his mother (Holland Taylor) and brother (Steve Buscemi) and convince you he is a good man with no extraordinary gifts or flaws. (Except for alcoholism which isn't given the sort of mythic glory that movies often seem partial to.) A clumsy suicide attempt is interrupted by three wise men and a kind and sweet madonna who tell him he is their chosen one, the spiritual savior of their people. He is slowly won over by their quiet contentment which he yearns to emulate. He is at a loss for what to do with them, though, since they don't want to leave his side and are unable or unwilling to tell him how he is supposed to save them. They want him to figure this out on his own, which he eventually does through a recurring dream.
It doesn't happen this quickly or this neatly-packaged. The movie takes its time and it takes a little getting used to, especially for anyone expecting Schneider to turn into a woman, , or a male prostitute, or a dolphin.
We've seen this story before, financially successful and spiritually barren man encounters a guru/crisis/woman (this movie has all three!) who awakens them a deeper and more genuine life. But I'm not a cynic, as far as I'm concerned, they can keep doing it. When they're bad, they're harmless and when they're good they give you something you can carry with you. This isn't a religious experience, but it's a nice movie, a sweet movie, a friend who sometimes gets a little boring, but who you're happy to have around.
Buscemi plays a bitter, smoking Buddhist monk with understated brilliance. Taylor, perhaps now best known as the mother on Two and a Half Men presents a shockingly vulnerable and humane matriarch that makes her mother on Men seem like Cruella DeVille in her younger, eviler days. The interplay between the three is remarkable, especially since Schneider, as director, should take some responsibility for their performances.
Schneider's character seems to parallel the actor in many ways. Schneider as actor is known for his obnoxious caricatures. Here his protagonist has a yearning so deep, it is easy to be convinced that the yearning is Schneider's own. He seems to want to emulate a quiet and vulnerable, early-dramatic-career Robin Williams. He doesn't have the slick and solid writing and production Williams enjoyed in The World According to Garp and Dead Poets Society, but the fact that he not only directed and starred in but co-wrote this earnest piece is a pleasant surprise. Especially when the lines he is most known for are, "You like-a the sauce," "Makin' copies," and "You can dooooo it!" I enjoyed this movie a lot and it'll remain on my list of movies to seek solace in when the obnoxious caricatures seem to be all that's survives out there.