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Film

Turkeys being served in movie theaters, too

Go ahead, stuff yourself at the Thanksgiving table today. Because when you head to the multiplex later, there'll be little to feast on from the season's scrawny offerings thus far.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published November 23, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Weinstein Co.] Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore star in Estevez’s Bobby, but the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy gets lost in unrelated fiction. [Warner Bros.] Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz confuse viewers in The Fountain. [Touchstone Pictures] Denzel Washington and Paula Patton manipulate time in Deja Vu.

Hollywood isn't giving moviegoers much reason to be thankful this holiday weekend.

Five films opened Wednesday, with Bobby arriv- ing today. Their various artistic deficiencies make none of them easy to recommend. Reviews of each were pub-lished Wednesday in Floridian, now available online at movies.tampabay.com.

Here's a brief recap of what St. Petersburg Times reviewers found lacking:

BOBBY (R) Writer-director Emilio Estevez obviously mourns Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 on the brink of a presidential election that could have changed the course of history. Estevez has a disappointing way of showing it.

Bobby has little to do with Kennedy except for newsreel footage of adoring voters and audio clips of idealistic speeches. Instead, Estevez and an impressive cast of like-minded actors create largely fictional characters coping with personal, sometimes petty problems coincidentally occurring in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where Kennedy was murdered.

The performances are solid, especially Sharon Stone as a makeup artist whose husband (William H. Macy) is cheating. But the film's approach is all wrong, shifting among 22 major characters so abruptly that few register. Bobby offers pat melodrama, occasional low comedy and little else, as if Kennedy's assassination merely spoiled a landlocked episode of The Love Boat. C

THE FOUNTAIN (PG-13) Hugh Jackman plays three roles, each variations of the same man's soul, in time periods spread 1,000 years apart.

One is named Tomas, a Spanish conquistador seeking the biblical Tree of Life. Another is Tommy, a present-day medical researcher attempting to cure his ailing wife (Rachel Weisz) of a brain tumor. The third is Tom, an outer space traveling tree hugger bound for a mythical nebula to fulfill an enduring love promise.

If those scenarios seem confounding, you won't be wrong even after seeing the movie.

Writer-director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) designs arresting visuals, especially in a climactic head trip comparable to 2001: A Space Odyssey (or perhaps a yoga workout video). B-

DEJA VU (PG-13) Romance of the time-travel sort continues in Tony Scott's science fiction drama, slightly more coherently than in The Fountain.

Academy Award winner Denzel Washington stars as federal agent Doug Carlin, investigating a terrorist attack on Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The FBI has a time travel machine that allows Doug to revisit the Big Easy before the deadly assault.

Doug's uptight supervisor (Val Kilmer) is particularly interested in the past whereabouts of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), who may have been connected to the terrorists. She's also beautiful, placing Doug in the dangerous position of falling in love with a suspect. Deja Vu has a bad case of we've-been-here-before. Times reviewer Phillip Booth gave it a C.

DECK THE HALLS (PG) Can't we finish Thanksgiving leftovers before Hollywood shoves a Christmas comedy down our throats?

Apparently not. Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito play neighbors attempting to outshine each other's holiday lights display. You know, the kind of fame Clark Griswold sewed up 17 years ago in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. A pair of Kristins - Davis and Chenoweth - co-star as their improbably patient wives. Times reviewer Marty Clear gave it a D.

TENACIOUS D AND THE PICK OF DESTINY (R) Jack Black first caught Hollywood's eye as the wild-eyed lead singer of a heavy metal spoof duo called Tenacious D. The joke works better as a 10-minute short on HBO than a full-length feature.

Black and his guitar-flicking accomplice Kyle Gass present the band's roots and persistent delusions of arena rock grandeur. Much of the humor depends on gutter talk and sexual perversions that quickly get stale. The plot concerns the guys' search for a guitar pick made from Satan's fang. Somebody tell them chopped-up celluloid also works in a pinch. D

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (PG-13) Writer-director Christopher Guest is a master of mockumentary filmmaking, evidenced by his improvised comedies Waiting for Guffman, Best of Show and A Mighty Wind. Such quasi-conventional storytelling doesn't suit his talent nearly as well. For Your Consideration focuses upon the production of a pretentious art house drama titled Home for Purim that inexplicably generates Oscar buzz for three of its stars. Catherine O'Hara and Harry Shearer play aging failures rejuvenated by the possibility, while a newcomer (Parker Posey) believes a nomination will allow her to leave standup comedy behind.

The jokes are inside even by Hollywood insider standards, the plot goes nowhere and the improvisation Guest allows possesses none of his films' previous spark. This is Spinal Tap proved there's a fine line between stupid and clever. For Your Consideration remains on the wrong side of that divide. C

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 11:31:16]