Addiction and prostitution are the topics for this indie comedy starring Matthew Broderick and Brittany Snow. He’s the not-too-wise uncle who volunteers for an ostensible rescue mission when he learns she’s been making a living as a Las Vegas hooker and also been using drugs. However, as a recovering alcoholic who still hasn’t given up his penchant for betting on horses, or lying to his wife (Maura Tierney) about it, there’s a real question as to who needs rescuing more.
Writer and first-time feature director Peter Tolan, whose television credits (Murphy Brown, The Larry Sanders Show, Rescue Me) outshine his movie ones (Analyze This and Guess Who, but also Stealing Harvard and Just Like Heaven) draws on that TV experience by making his lead character a TV writer. As the co-creator of Rescue Me, Tolan also knows something about realistically blending drama with comedy, and about portraying addictive behavior. This may emphasize the comedy more, but there’s rarely a false note.
Snow, best known as the teen heroine on TV’s American Dreams, is a variation on the hooker with a heart of gold, but that’s oversimplifying it. Both characters are more than the sum of their problems, and hers is not a victim. Notwithstanding her profession, she’s a not-atypical 20-year-old, albeit one who seems entirely too perky talking about blow jobs. Actually, she seems perky talking about almost everything. Telling her uncle about a man who was “cut in half” by a train, she comments, “That would suck.” Snow and Tolan do a good job in making her more than a caricature, though.
The portrait of prostitution is somewhat benign—it’s a comedy—but not entirely so. Tolan introduces one too-convenient (but comic) plot twist that prevents the story from becoming too dark, but also comes up with a smart, realistic ending that prevents it from becoming too light.
IMDB link
viewed 6/24/08 (screening at Ritz Bourse); reviewed 6/26/08
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