Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton

2007 was actually a pretty good year for cinema. With There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men and Atonement all battling for the critics' love, and the indie circuit basking in Juno's glow, I would have expected Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton to get lost in the shuffle. And yet, Michael Clayton managed to make a nice, little dent in the box office and win some real critical love, appearing on many of the top ten lists at the end of the year and bringing in seven Academy Award nominations.

A serious-minded film that resists MTV-style editing in favor of a more measured pace, and that refuses to dumb down its story or dialogue for the audience, Michael Clayton is about Michael (George Clooney), a law firm's "fixer" who is sent in to solve the firm's biggest problems. The current problem is that Michael's good friend and firm partner Arthur (Tom Wilkinson, Batman Begins) has stopped taking his medication for his manic-depression. Poor Arthur stripped naked during a deposition and chased the opposing legal team out into the parking lot. It's up to Michael to find Arthur, reign him in, and discover why he went bonkers. Arthur's client, a billion dollar chemical company mired in a class action law suit, is understandably enraged; one of their lead executives Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) considers taking matters into her own hands.

Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? But in the assured hands of screenwriter-director Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton is classy cinema, beautifully shot by Robert Elswit (who actually won the Oscar that same year for There Will Be Blood), and superbly acted by a quality ensemble, that included the late, great director Sydney Pollack (Tootsie). Given the quality of the creative team involved, it should be no surprise how good the film is. The first 2/3 especially are enthralling.

The last 1/3 does begin to unravel a bit. Much of the film is told through flashback, so the climax of the film is absolutely devoid of tension, which is a big mistake. And then following the climax, we just kind of grow through the same motions we've seen a thousand times before in other movies and TV shows. It's not that the ending is bad. The scenes work, especially because it gives both Clooney and Swinton showcase dialogue to speak - I just wish that Gilroy had brought something new and original to the table, especially considering how intriguing the first 2/3 of the movie were.

But all in all, it is a very good film. I'm glad it managed to carve out a bit of a fan club. It would have been a shame if this had gone buried and unseen.  

Last note - stay for the credits for probably Clooney's best acting in the film!!! It's subtle stuff, but brilliant.

OSCARS: Tilda Swinton, Best Supporting Actress

NOMINATIONS: Best Picture, Best Director (Gilroy), Best Original Score (James Newton Howard), Best Actor (Clooney), Best Supporting Actor (Wilkinson), Best Original Screenplay (Gilroy).

MVP: George Clooney just owns the screen whenever he is on camera with some good old fashioned movie star charisma. It's more than charisma, though. Anyone who says Clooney always just plays Clooney should really take a deeper look at this performance. Sure, the Clooney confidence is there, but there is no charm. Michael Clayton really does nothing but ruffle feathers for most of the film's running time. He's actually kind of a jerk - but seeing this soulless jerk rediscover his conscience is kind of the point of the movie. It's a great, layered performance, and Clooney deserved his Oscar nomination (he lost to Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood). Actually, it might actually be the best performance of his career so far...I'll have to think about that one...

TRIVIA: Both George Clooney and Michael O'Keefe, a rival lawyer at the firm, played boyfriends of Laurie Metcalf on Roseanne.

BEST LINE: Michael: "I'm not the guy you kill, I'm the guy you buy! I'm your easiest problem and you're gonna kill me??"

Movie Review: Tootsie

Tootsie - 25th Anniversary Edition

Let's get this straight - when I was a kid, I didn't really get this movie. It had one or two funny lines, but was it THE awesomely funny cross-dressing movie? Nope. That honor belonged to Miss Doubtfire.

Oh, how things change. Miss Doubtfire still is amusing, I suppose, but when I re-watched Tootsie, I realized how good, clever, and deep a film it actually is. Dustin Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor and acting coach who pretends to be a middle-aged woman named Dorothy in order to land an acting gig on a General Hospital-like soap opera. While on the show, he falls in love with one of the actresses, played by Jessica Lange. There you go. That's the story. Simple set up.

The movie is dated in some ways - for example, the gender wars and glass ceiling are not as hot button topics as they used to be - but it doesn't make the movie any less effective. It does make it a bit of time capsule for viewers today - "wait, a minute, in the early 80s, bosses could really just walk around and smack their secretaries on the butt?? That's crazy!" It's valuable for people to see that this country had strong walls, equality in the workplace was rare, and it was a struggle to knock those walls down. Maybe seeing how those walls came tumbling down twenty years ago will inspire today's fighters to pull down other walls that need breaking.

But this is comedy, for crying out loud! So let's talk about that. Is it funny? Mostly, yes. Some of the comedy is also dated, but there is just as much that still works. Most importantly, the comedy all comes from character. The movie isn't just about set pieces or slapstick or "look at me, I'm wearing a bra" jokes. The humor comes from character, makes sense in the context of character, and propells the story forward effectively. Dustin Hoffman is fantastic, Bill Murray is at his deadpan best as his playwright roommate (who clearly ab-libbed most of his dialogue, and I thank him for it!), and Sydney Pollack shows he is just as good an actor as he is a director.

I definitely recommend the movie to people who have never seen it, but more to those who already have. As I get older, I find myself connecting with the characters a lot more. These are people with the same emotional problems and insecurities as the rest of us. That level of reality is why it does hold up so well.

BEST LINE: "Look, you don't know me from Adam. But I was a better man with you, as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man. You know what I mean? I just gotta learn to do it without the dress."

TRIVIA: Apparently Dustin Hoffman could be incredibly mercurial on the set. The cast and crew would only give him bad news when he was dressed as Dorothy because they all said "he was much nicer as a woman."

THE MVP AWARD: Jessica Lange won the Oscar for her performance, but I strongly disagree. She does good work, but when it comes down to it, she is the typical wounded, needs-to-be-loved romantic interest. She's had better roles. But has Teri Garr? Also nominated, she plays Michael Dorsey's insecure and gullible acting student and friend. She is brilliant, taking a character who should be whiny, pathetic and desperate and turns her into a sympathetic and deeply funny, funny woman. Every time she is on screen she steals the show. Her fantastic (and earned) temper tantrum at the end of the movie about feminist literature and being in charge of her own orgasm probably got her the Oscar nomination. It should have brought her the Oscar.

Oscars: Supporting Actress (Jessica Lange)

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Supporting Actress (Teri Garr), Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Song, Best Sound, Best Cinematography.