Boxoffice-September.1997

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REVIEWS
Scotti's performance as
Frankie carries the movie, adding
most of the film's humor as
the literal and figurative
straight man. He manages to
make sympathetic and charming
his character of the homophobic
yet otherwise (mostly)
virtuous "guido" (a derogatory
term for gold-chain-wearing,
brashly mannered, style-impaired
Italian-Americans who
venerate machismo). Like the
premise, first-time writer/director
Tony Vitale also has potential—if
he increases the
adventuresome aspects of his
ideas. Christine James
NOTHING TO
LOSE ^^1/2
Starring Tim Robbins,
Martin Lawrence, John C.
McGinley, Giancarlo Esposito
and Kelly Preston. Directed
and written by Steve
Oedekerk. Produced by Martin
Bregman, Dan Jinks and
Michael Bregman. A Buena
Vista release. Comedy. Rated
R for pervasive strong language
and a sex scene. Running
time: 98 min.
This Touchstone effort
doesn't exactly recapture the
golden formula of such previous
mismatched interracial
buddy pictures as "48HRS.,"
"Trading Places" and the "Lethal
Weapon" series, but it
does manage to maintain a
hapless charm of its own that,
although often clumsy and unfocused,
should please fans of
its two male leads.
Tim Robbins ("The
Shawshank Redemption")
stars as Nick Beam, a Los Angeles
advertising executive
whose happy married life
comes to a crashing halt when
he comes to believe that his
wife ("Jerry Maguire's" Kelly
Preston) is having an affair
with his boss ("That Darn
Cat's" Michael KcKean). Before
he can complete a downward
spiral into suicidal
despair, he becomes the victim
of carjacker T. Paul ("A Thin
Line Between Love and
Hate's" Martin Lawrence).
Having literally "nothing to
lose," Nick turns the tables on
his attacker, taking the man on
a journey of comic terror.
As buddy pictures go,
"Nothing to Lose" is one of the
more obvious ones, with
hardly an original or inventive
twist to be found. Thanks to the
comic chemistry between
Robbins and Lawrence, the
damage is minimal. Like a
modem-day Laurel and Hardy,
Robbins offers droll understatement
while Lawrence effects
manic outbursts. For
writer/director Steve Oedekerk,
the film is a middling
success: a monumental step up
from his last effort as a hyphenate,
"Ace Ventura: When
Nature Calls," yet well shy of
the more balanced resonance
of his winning "The Nutty Professor"
script. Wade Major
CONTACT •••1/2
Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew
McConaughey and Tom
Skerritt. Directed by Robert
Zemeckis. Written by James
V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg.
Produced by Robert
Zemeckis and Steve Starkey.
A Warner Bros,
release.
SF/drama. RatedPGfor some
intense action, mild language
and a scene of sensuality.
Running time: 150 min.
"Contact" connects, thanks
to an intelligent script by Michael
Goldenberg ("Bed of
Roses") and James V. Hart
(adapting from the Carl Sagan
novel) and a strong performance
from Jodie Foster as
Ellie, a driven scientist who
has devoted her life to searching
the airwaves for signals
from space. It's not "ID4"/
"MIB" movie fare; there are no
slime-gushing assassinations
and only one explosion. The
film's dramatic elements and
its philosophic rather than pyrotechnic
nature, along with its
spanning of the sci-fi, drama,
comedy, romance, suspense/thriller
and fantasy/adventure
genres, make the latest
from Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest
Gump") a sci-fier for sophisticated
audiences.
One day, miraculously,
Ellie' s efforts pay off: There is
a signal from space. Even as
mayhem results among the
masses, out of Ellie's past
steps Palmer Joss ("A Time to
Kill's" Matthew McConaughey,
occasionally too charming),
an easygoing spiritualist
who's now the president's religious
adviser. Aside from his
role as the love interest, the
point of Palmer's character
seems to be to draw a parallel
between the spiritual and the
scientific, though the results
are not entirely successful.
Unlike so many other alienthemed
movies, "Contact"
doesn't disappoint (at least not
entirely) with regard to provid-
Quality