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REVIEWS<br />
—<br />
—<br />
FLASHBACK: January 3, 1972<br />
What BOXOFFICE Said About...<br />
HAROLD AND MAUDE<br />
[Leelee Sobieski and Albert Brooks star as unlikely friends whose eccentric personalities<br />
and significant age difference cause consternation in Paramount Classics'<br />
"My First Mister" (due out November 2). When "Mister" screened at Sundance<br />
earlier this year, comparisons were inevitably made to the central duo in the black<br />
comedy "Harold and Maude," whose relationship<br />
could only be described as "May-December" if the<br />
calendars used were from two different centuries.]<br />
The love of a 20-year-old boy for an 80-year-old<br />
woman is the basis for a macabre comedy that borders<br />
on the distasteful but always manages to be entertaining<br />
in the hands of veteran Ruth Cordon and young<br />
Bud Cort. Director Hal Ashby, formerly an Academy<br />
Award-winning editor, displayed a similar flair for offbeat<br />
humor with "The Landlord" and doesn't let the<br />
situation get out of hand very often.<br />
Rich Harold (Cort) stages elaborate "suicides" to stir<br />
some emotion from his mother (Vivian Pickles). Fond<br />
of attending funerals of strangers, he meets and is<br />
befriended by Maude (Gordon). Also a funeral fancier,<br />
Maude is almost 80 and believes in living life to its<br />
fullest.<br />
Harold's mother's attempt to find a suitable mate<br />
for her son end in disaster when each date is frightened off by another fake suicide.<br />
His uncle tries to have the boy drafted, but decides otherwise after Harold and<br />
Maude stage a violent scene for his benefit. A psychiatrist can't penetrate Harold's<br />
world, either; only Maude gets through, her antics delighting and confusing the boy<br />
at the same time.<br />
Cordon fans will delight in her performance as an elderly lady with a youthful<br />
vitality. Cort's lack of emotion nearly makes his character non-existent at times, but<br />
his talent brings off many scenes credibly. The casual way in which he pretends to<br />
chop off an arm with a meat cleaver is a particularly outstanding example of this.<br />
EXPLOITIPS:<br />
Lippincott Books has published a novelette in hardcover of the Colin Higgins scenario.<br />
A&M Records is releasing an album of the Cat Stevens score. Both are good<br />
promotional aides. Initiate a tree-planting drive in honor of the Maude character.<br />
CATCHLINES:<br />
An Unconventional Story About Unconventional People<br />
Doing Conventional Things— Living, Loving, Laughing, Crying and Dying.<br />
SHADOW GLORIES<br />
**l/2<br />
Starring Marc Sandler, Sarah Rachel<br />
henberg, Linda Amendola and Michael<br />
Denney. Directed by Ziad Hamzeh.<br />
Written by Marc Sandler. Produced by<br />
Ziad Hamzeh, Bert Brown and Marc<br />
Sandler. A Hamzeh Mystique release.<br />
Drama. Rated R for strong brutal violence<br />
and language. Running time: 11)9 min.<br />
To learn how to fight so you never have<br />
to is not a coneept that works for<br />
American audiences. "Shadow Glories"<br />
suffers from having this idea as ils foundation.<br />
Ultimately, it ends up a broken, fractured<br />
version of what it might have been,<br />
rather than the intelligent, poetic drama it<br />
aspires to be. But that doesn't mean it's not<br />
a tough, strong-minded and at times well<br />
executed film that gives ils director and<br />
cast a chance to strut then stuff with confidence<br />
and conviction.<br />
15(1 (R-138) BOXOFFICE<br />
Marc Sandler's script fluctuates— at<br />
times the doubts, despairs and hopes of its<br />
characters are aptly exposed, but at other<br />
moments it comes across as pretentious and<br />
overwritten. Sandler plays Simon Penn, a<br />
retired kickboxing champ left only with the<br />
legacy of having mischanneled his talents at<br />
the expense of a happy life and a contented<br />
soul. He is not just discontented because<br />
he's past his prime in the ring; he is<br />
deeply<br />
troubled by what he was doing there ail<br />
along. He runs a school that leaches a more<br />
idealized version of his brutal sport in the<br />
hopes the activity will channel emotions<br />
that are dangerous if let loose. But C.J., his<br />
partner at the school, is a woman who<br />
needs a real outlet for her rage and hostility.<br />
She focuses on beating the current champion<br />
a man with the nickname "Killer" who<br />
has no doubts about what his sport is all<br />
about. Penn is lorn between trying to find<br />
helping the determined C.J. hone her skills<br />
to take on "Killer." Naturally, a form of<br />
madness ensues.<br />
To an amateur eye, the kickboxing<br />
sequences seem very well executed. The<br />
actors are well cast and up to their tasks,<br />
but still the impression remains that it's all<br />
just a showcase exercise full of a sound<br />
and fury within which better qualities can't<br />
find their true footing—shadow glories<br />
indeed. Bridget Byrne<br />
ZOOLANDER<br />
•••<br />
Starring Ben Stiller. Owen Wilson,<br />
Christine Taylor and Will Ferrell. Directed<br />
by Ben Stiller. H ritten by Drake Sather &<br />
Ben Stiller and John Hamburg. Produced by<br />
Scott Rudin, Ben Stiller and Stuart<br />
Cornfeld. A Paramount release. Comedy.<br />
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and drug<br />
references. Running time: H9 min.<br />
Ostensibly a spoof of male models and<br />
the fashion industry, "Zoolander" also<br />
takes broad swipes at everything from spy<br />
and action films to the entire modern cult<br />
of celebrity. Ben Stiller stars in the title<br />
role as Derek Zoolander, a legendary male<br />
model of equally legendary stupidity<br />
whose swollen ego suffers a fatal blow<br />
when he fails to win a fourth consecutive<br />
Male Model of the Year award, the trophy<br />
instead going to his golden-locked archrival<br />
Hansel (Owen Wilson). Believing that<br />
there must be more to life than "being really,<br />
really good looking," Zoolander briefly<br />
retires and makes an unsuccessful attempt<br />
to return to his family's coal-mining roots.<br />
Behind the scenes, however, a diabolical<br />
plot is being hatched to which Zoolander<br />
will be integral. The new president of<br />
Malaysia has vowed to put an end to child<br />
labor sweatshops, thereby threatening the<br />
entire fashion industry and jeopardizing the<br />
diabolical machinations of evil fashion<br />
mogul Mugatu (Will Ferrell). Mugatu<br />
knows that to assassinate the president he<br />
will need a trained, brainwashed assassin<br />
an empty shell that can be programmed,<br />
configured and triggered. Basically, someone<br />
just like Derek Zoolander.<br />
As if that weren't enough, there's also<br />
a love angle involving a Time Magazine<br />
reporter (Stiller's real-life wife Christine<br />
Taylor), a catwalk parade of celebrity<br />
cameos and an endless stream of pop culture<br />
references so fast and furious that<br />
even repeat vicwings may not reveal them<br />
all. Some of the references are so<br />
obscure— such as the naming of Ferrell's<br />
character after a "Star Trek" monster<br />
that many viewers may not get them at all.<br />
Ordinarily, the greatest challenge with<br />
broad comedy is simply sustaining the<br />
energy. In the case of "Zoolander." that<br />
task goes to the other extreme; by the end,<br />
audiences ma> be too exhausted to laugh<br />
any more. It's a minor flaw in a movie that<br />
has so much going for it and which pays<br />
o\\' a much highet percentage of its gags<br />
than even the simihiiK ambitious "Austin<br />
Powers" pictures.— Wade Major
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