Joe Gould's Secret (2000)

   
JOE GOULD'S SECRET is surprisingly slack.  Set in the Forties,
the true story of a "New Yorker" writer (Stanley Tucci) writ-
ing about a writer and homeless eccentric (Ian Holm) is a dull-
on-arrival drama that feels more like an acting exercise than a
feature film.  Director and star Tucci's persistent blandness 
(plus phony Southern accent) is the first wrong note.  Holm's
too-showy showiness is the second.  (Wow, what amazingly green
eyes, though!)  Tucci's direction, meanwhile, is full of awk-
ward long takes and jarring slow-motions shots.  He couldn't
make the film less visually interesting if he tried.  I left af-
ter an hour...  With Patricia Clarkson, Steve Martin, Susan Sar-
andon, Patrick Tovatt, Celia Weston, Allan Corduner, Alice Drum-
mond, and a woefully unglamorous (and alarmingly Hilary Clinton-
looking) Hope Davis.  (Rated "R"/104 min.)

Grade: B-

Copyright 2000 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros