I DETSY'S WEDDING (15) Alan Alda's latest as writer/director/starleatures ol’ Hawkeyes asthe concerned paterworrying himself over daughter Molly Ringwald’slraught nuptials. See preview.
: Odeons Glasgow and Edinburgh. UCIs and Cannon The Forge trom Fri 26 Oct.
I THE FRESNNIAN (PG) Making a sell-mocking return to the screen in this enioyably daily comic caper is Marlon Brando. sending up his Godfather persona something rotten as the benign Malia boss watching over bumbling young Iilm student Matthew Broderick's unliker misadventures. See preview. Odeons Glasgow and Edinburgh, UCIs and Cannon The Forge trorn Fri 2 Nov.
I GOOD FELLAS (18) Much-touted Scorsese/De Niro reunion hasthe erstwhile duo back on the mean NYC streets lora
chronicle ollactuaIIy-based organised crime misdemeanours. With Ray Liotta and a truly scaryJoe Pesci. See leature. Cannons Glasgow and Edinburgh, UCls lrom Fri 26 Oct.
I HEART CONDITION (15) Bob 'Osltins does his American accent bit as an abrasive cop whose unexpected coronary allows Dr Plot Contrivance to pertorm a transplant that puts the heart at suave black dead lawyer Denzel
lengthy. hard-hitting
Washington into the racist honlry's bod. Needless to say. up pops DW‘s ghost and the bluesome twosome are soon getting on like a cross on lire. See review. Odeons and UCls from Fri 2 Nov.
My , I LOVE AT LARGE (15) Alan Rudolph's latest exercise in genre subversion has Torn Berenger as a shady private dick caught up in a complicated tale that mixes adultery. jealousy. duplicity and a bizarroid cameo by Neil Young. See review. Cannon The Forge trom Fri 2 Nov. I YOUNG GUNS ll (12) Kieter Sutherland. Emilio Estevez. Lou Diamond Phillips and . . . er. the other ones, return tor anothersaga olsmolting Winchesters. saddlesores and prop department tumbleweeds. Dig thatJon Bon Jovi soundtrack. y‘all. See review. Wide release
from Fri 2 Nov.
WEEK ONE 27 WEEK TWO 28
21 LISTINGS:
INDEX
[HE] PREVIEW
Fl 1 .M
{Fat Man And ByWonder
Eternally youthful Matthew Broderick‘s latest movie is a \ *acky comedy. The Freshman. but all that everyone wants to talk about is his co-star, Marlon Brando. Trevor Johnston reports as a tired and unemotional matinee idol hits town.
The advance prognosis was not
good. ‘I just met the guy from The Faee.‘ announced a fellow-haek.‘and he said he‘d just spent an hour with a very jaded young star.’
‘Anyone we know‘."
‘Matthew Broderick.’
Indeed. the very same Matthew Broderick who was about to appear before us for the purposes of promoting The Freshman. Andrew Bergman‘s refreshingly off-kilter comedy. in which he plays a likeably gullible film undergrad getting unwittingly involved with Marlon Brando‘s eccentric underworld figure. Maximilian Schell’s mad gourmet. and an extremely well-nourished reptile.
Unsurprisingly. however. it‘s not our scaly friend all the journos are interested in. but Mr Brando. The Freshman features his most substantial film role in many a long year. and sees the statuesque old murnbler displaying hitherto unsuspected abilities in the ancient
20 The list 26 ( )L‘I()l‘cr — 8 November l‘)‘)ll
arts ofself-moekery and ice-skating. Attraeted to the project because he‘d enjoyed a previous Andrew Bergman offering. “979‘s Peter (iraves Peter Falk chortler The ln-l.aws. the big man does a take on his Don Vito (‘orleone creation so spot-on it‘s had Paramount falling over themselves to trumpet that ‘any incidental allusion‘ thereto in the movie occurs with their permission. Not much to do with The Godfather? Very ‘incidental‘.
To add further interest to the brew.
Brando had already been making headlines on the Toronto location with a stinging attack on the picture making up the guts ofan interview he‘d given to the Globe And Mail. Fortunately. we now have Broderick on hand to explain that ‘it was something about payments he‘d been owed. and actually when I got back to New York he rang me up to apologise. l was surprised by it all because I know he genuinely did enjoy making the movie. I spent a lot of time in his trailer with him.‘ So the story goes. and Broderick looks fairly bored to be retelling it. having already gone through the motions for the US press and the French at Deauville. whence he has just returned.
Still. ifall Broderiek‘s wordage has the effect of letting more people know about the movie. his breath won‘t have been entirely wasted. The Freshman is the kind of engagineg ramshackle. rather oddball farce that we rarely see these days from formula-minded Hollywood. Don‘t ask how. but the
plotting manages to bring together those traditionally heterogeneous comic elements like mob paranoia. risibly esoteric film—studies professors. and a good deal of lizard action. Komodo draan l'aneicrs. this one's for you.
(‘apping his recent impressive work as a greenhorn army office r out ofhis depth in (ilory ~ Edward Zwick‘s expansive. sentimental exercise in (‘ivil War revisionism Broderick gives a deceptively skilful performance that holds the picture together. He‘s the straight man most of the time. but escapes dullness. managing even a creditable emotional pull to his scenes with Marlon‘s voluminous (‘armine Sabatini. and his few moments with love interest Penelope Ann Miller. ‘Basically. I did the film because Marlon was in it.‘ recalls the veteran ofthe Broadway stage and John H ughcs' Ferris liaeller's [)ay 0]]. 'l was a bit overawed at first. but the great thing is that he's such a generous performer. he really comes alive and gives you so much to react to you can't help but look good.‘
At which point his PR handler enters the fray. ‘(‘ould we perhaps have just one more question about Marlon Brando now and then go on and talk about Matthew Broderick'."
‘It‘s OK. you know.’ retorts her
charge for the day. ‘lt's what I'd want i
to know about too. I can see why they‘re asking.’
The Freshman ( l’( i ) opens across central Scotland from Fri Nov 2. See Openers and Listingsfor/Miller details.
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