Monster in a Box

Three of the things you can say about Spalding Gray are: he certainly marched to the beat of his own "drummer;" he was never at a loss for words; and he obviously felt that those watching and listening to him would be interested in every aspect of his life, experiences and thoughts - no matter how trivial at times.

Most of us are not quite as far "off the wall" as he was. Most of us aren't as interested in sharing the most minute parts of ourselves with others - even one-on-one or in small groups, let alone on stage.

But that doesn't make it any less-interesting to watch and listen to this erudite, unusual man. And after seeing one of his performances, on reflection, we can find many of his articulate musings were perhaps more relevant to our own lives and thoughts than we may have first thought.

Granted, he was a "New York/avant-garde" type of personality, and undeniably a bit "strange." (There are those who would maintain describing someone as "New York" and strange" was being unnecessarily redundant.)

I give him a "10" for the talent he presents in this genre which is his specialty.

I watched this mainly because I liked "Swimming to Cambodia," but for me this is a lesser effort. It takes no small ego to think that you can keep people's interest for ninety minutes by sitting at a desk and telling what's been happening to you for the last several years. Gray has more success at this than most, but the stories he tells here about living in Los Angeles, traveling to Nicaragua, dealing with an AIDS scare, being the stage manager in a production of "Our Town," and so on, just did not captivate me.

The music, sound effects, lighting changes, and varying camera angles (that I presume were intended to make this monologue more interesting) I found distracting. And Gray himself engages in some unnecessary histrionics.

This film is not without its moments but I doubt that I will remember much about it in a week. It will be best appreciated by more devoted Spaulding Gray fans than I.

Jerry Seinfeld has nothing on Spalding Gray. This is one of the more unusual 90 minutes you will spend, as Gray discusses the trials and tribulations of writing a screenplay.

The entire movies shows Gray sitting at a desk, looking straight ahead. He deals with personal and professional relationships, religious and ethical beliefs; and yet somehow manages to hold your attention.

Not for everyone, but you can actually watch it in parts, or even flick back and forth if it's on TV. The snippets of Gray's life sometimes seem real, sometimes unbelievable, but always give a feeling of truly looking into another person's soul.

in his descriptions of CAA, platinum card lunches in Hollywood, psychoanalysis, a vacation in Provincetown he never took, and free trips to Nicaragua, financed by Columbia pictures.

It sounds narcissistic, but Spalding Gray (possibly because of his unusual personality) ropes the audience in, laughs at himself (perhaps because he did not take the Hollywood thing oh-so-seriously) and gets us to care.

This monologue is not just about "The Killing Fields", or "Swimming to Cambodia"; it is more a pastiche of events, as he sees them. Some of the lines are classic, as when Gray meets with the esteemed talent agents at CAA. The conference table is ..."full of them, tanned, healthy, fresh from drinking blue-green algae from an Oregon lake...there are no drugs now in Hollywood".

This was before the tragedy occurred. Many of us will miss his off-balance humor. 9/10.

What was I thinking? Who, other than a close relative, would give 10 stars to this horse-manure? The guy is not even funny once. He exudes a sense of entitlement as "a witty guy," but turns out to be a bag of wind. Worse than Dinner With Andre, though I didn't think that would ever be possible. My despair for humanity would now be unendurable but for the one thing that keeps me going when all else fails: the FFWD button.