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BY MIRIAM RINN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
MOVIE REVIEW
Actor John Krasinski (Jim Halpert on NBC's "The Office,") has chosen a challenging project for his debut as a writer/director. Adapting a group of short stories by David Foster Wallace and casting a bunch of first-rate young character actors, Krasinski has fashioned an original and engaging film that tries to untangle the knot of emotions men feel about women. The film isn't perfect-and it isn't for everyone-but those viewers who don't need a strong plot to pull them along and appreciate thought-provoking talk and character development, will find this a satisfying experience.
There is a story of sorts. Grad student Sara Quinn, the lovely Julianne Nicholson, has been betrayed by her boyfriend Ryan, played by Krasinski himself. With the cooperation of her advisor, played by Timothy Hutton, she launches on an experiment to find out what makes men do such things. Her method is to interview different men and just let them talk. The interviews range from the outrageously amusing to the brutally callous, with the men unintentionally revealing their anger, their fear, and their confusion. Other men are seen at parties or talking through doors, and there's a terrific scene with Christopher Meloni in an airport.
The actor in Krasinski has given his actors the gift of space to create vivid characters, and most of them grab the opportunity gratefully. Michael Cerveris, Will Arnett, Chris Messina, Bobby Cannavale, Josh Charles all do terrific work, as does Nicholson herself. She has almost no dialogue, but her delicate features register her grief and her astonishment as she finally listens to Ryan's explanation of his behavior.Krasinski doesn't try for an answer to the question of what do men want, thankfully, but he makes interesting choices, which only occasionally seem pat. A long excerpt involves an African-American man's bitter recollection of his father, who worked as a men's room attendant. Frankie Faison, familiar to viewers of "The Wire" as Police Commissioner Burell, expresses his anger and disgust at his father's demeaning work, a job where he was quite literally invisible to most of the men he encountered. It's not necessary to point out that women are often invisible in the same way, and spend lifetimes tending to other people's physical needs. Another character's rage grows out of an experience usually related to women, which leaves him terrified and furious. Other aspects of the film, such as the two young men who function as a sort of chorus, and the disappointingly reductive end, don't work as well.
Krasinski presents the men in the film as flawed human beings, almost all unsympathetic, but each riveting in his own way. You may turn away from them in distaste, but not in boredom. The few women we see, however, are totally without personality. They are the victims of the men's unkindness or hostility, or they are idealized fantasy figures. They aren't real in any significant way. We're left pondering whether it's preferable to be an interesting SOB or a pallid icon of virtue. The film purports to be on the "side" of women, but the experience of watching is as unsettling as many of the monlogues.
"Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" starts Friday at IFC Center in New York City and is available on Video On Demand.
