Filling in

Being a bit of a completist, I have recently been watching justly-neglected films by engaging young directors: A Life Less Ordinary from Danny Boyle, Mr. Jealousy from Noah Baumbach, and She Hate Me from Spike Lee. It’s pretty rare for me to look at films with Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes scores in 20s and 30s, but three in a week indicates how betwixt and between I am at the moment. Each of the three is a mess, yet perversely watchable and instructive.

Millions made me look at Boyle again, and an extremely positive reference by Stephanie Zacharek, the critic (of Salon.com) with whom I agree more than anyone, led me to the big American film he got to make after Trainspotting became a hit. I’m afraid I cannot join her solitary enthusiasm for A Life Less Ordinary (1997), but it does have some appealing aspects -- energy above all. And Ewan MacGregor, whom I am starting to see as a young Cary Grant, always himself but game for any role, from slapstick to musical to drama (he does a bit of everything in this film), is always charming. Cameron Diaz is, to be honest, a little scary to me, with those sculpted cheekbones and all, but does contribute yet more energy. The story is inconsequential on several levels, with him kidnapping her (or vice versa), and a pair of angels played by Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo (you’ve got to be kidding -- but I don’t take the joke), who will be kicked out of heaven if they don’t make the thrown-together couple fall in love. Not a good movie but a fun enough ride.

The Squid and the Whale represents a quantum leap forward for Baumbach after Mr. Jealousy (1998), which has its good points and its bad. The extensive voiceover narration suggests an inadequate adaptation of very personal material, turned into film by means of New Wave recyclings. I’m not going to come down hard on a film that appropriates music from Jules and Jim and visual tricks from Shoot the Piano Player. Eric Stoltz and Annabelle Sciorra are better than all right as the main couple, and Christopher Eigeman is always a welcome satirical presence, but the thirtysomething downtown NY scene has been covered often and better. I enjoyed the self-referential fun, but found that the film went on too long, with several deflating scenes tacked on to the end.

There are also moments of fun in She Hate Me (2004), but Spike Lee’s piling on of topical points makes for the worst film by an admirable director that I have every seen. The uneasy combination of corporate expose and sex comedy is difficult enough but becomes ludicrous, not in a good way, by tossing in Watergate and other bits of Spike’s outrage, which bloats a thin conceit into epic length. While the whole is appalling, there’s enough wit and competence on display to keep one watching, but at the end of 138 minutes, all you can say is, “Wow, that was a piece of shit.”