Roger Dodger

Meet Roger Swanson, the world's most arrogant and chauvinistic SOB. To him, women are inferior and are to be regarded as conquests. Yet as appalling and thoroughly unlikable as Roger is, he's played by Campbell Scott, who's so good that he makes Roger a person who is quite literally addicting to watch.

After getting dumped by his boss, Joyce (Isabella Rossellini), the ultimate player Roger is more than a little peeved. But when his nephew shows up at his office asking for advice on women, Roger takes it upon himself to show the 16 year old how to be the ultimate womanizer.

Needless to say, this film is about Roger. Unless the performance was pitch-perfect, the film would fall flat on its face. Fortunately, indie-film king Campbell Scott is playing him. Campbell Scott is dynamite. With a razor-sharp wit and an arsenal of one-liners, pick-up lines and other assorted ways of getting sex, Roger is compulsively watchable. There's really not much that he says that hasn't been said before, but Scott is so stunning that it doesn't matter. His dialogue is electric, and Scott attacks it with relish. Yet as darkly funny as some of the things he says are, Scott understands all facets of Roger. His scenes with Joyce are some of the most telling about Roger, and arguably some of his most well-acted. He still has the same penchant for one-liners and shocking views on women, but Scott delivers it with anger and frustration.

His co-stars are great as well. Jesse Eisenberg is terrific as his nervous nephew, Nick. He's young and naiive, and Roger is more than happy to enlighten him. Their two targets, Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and Sophie (Jennifer Beals) are terrific. Both are gorgeous, and are totally into Nick (and to his surprise, not the least bit into Roger). Andrea has a wit to match Roger's, while Sophie is nice and falls for Nick. Isabella Rossellini is also solid as Joyce, Roger's boss, who is more than a little annoyed with him when he won't let their affair end.

Dylan Kidd has a terrific script. Unfortunately, this was shot on a hand-held camera, which is not the way to shoot it. However, this was probably due to budget constraints. The only scene that doesn't work is the final one. It's out of character for Roger, and thus rings false.

Yet this film is all Campbell Scott. The cast and script may help, but this is his movie. And Campbell Scott is unforgettable in a performance that in a perfect world, would have garnered him an Oscar. We can only hope that in the future the prestigious award will finally come his way.

I wouldn't have thought from previews that "Roger Dodger" would have an ounce of romance in it, but it does. The scene between Elizabeth Berkeley, Jennifer Beals (both very good by the way--who would have thought?) and Roger's nephew is incredibly sweet and touching, but without being overly sentimental or cloying. Campbell Scott gives a fabulous performance as Roger, illustrating how broad his acting range is. My only complaint with the movie is its incredibly annoying cinematography. All of the compositions are cluttered and claustrophobic, sometimes so much so that the main focus of the shot is entirely obscured. And this trend toward hand-held cameras needs to be stopped. I think directors feel that hand-held cinematography lends a gritty, realistic point of view to their films, but more frequently it serves only to distract.

But a fairly minor quibble about an otherwise very good film.

Grade: A-

I saw this movie back in 2002 at the Austin Film Festival. It featured the first two films from the up and coming actor Jesse Eisenberg, who as we all know is up for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network" at this years Academy Awards. Eisenberg had a supporting role is his other film "The Emperor's Club" that starred Kevin Kline.

Watching this film I was struck with a bit of déjà vu. Eisenberg's character of Nick is a fast talking, awkward computer geek. Go figure. Then when you start to look at all his other roles, it seems he has contracted "Michael Cera Syndrome". He has seems to play the exact same character in every film he is in. So I guess its no surprise that he was nominated for his work in "The Social Network" since he has been slowly perfecting the role for almost ten years. On the other hand Campbell Scott gives a remarkable performance as Roger, an even faster talking, New York City copy writer for an advertising firm. He is nicknamed Roger Dodger for his ability to talk is way out of anything. He is a single womanizer almost on the level of Charlie Sheen. One day he is visited at work by his nephew Nick. At Nicks request he gets a crash course on picking up women he won't soon forget.

This film also stars a trio of talented actresses. Isabella Rossellini plays Roger's boss whom she's having an affair with. Jennifer Beals and Elizabeth Berkley play the women they meet at a night club. Coming off the infamous "Showgirls" disaster, Berkley was actually in attendance and took questions about her role in this film. The audience was quite respectful.

While Roger uses every trick up is sleeve to manipulate women and boost his ego. Nick is so truthful and pure hearted he always seems to be a wet blanket on Rogers plans to get them some action. This also makes Roger come off as more of a creepy sleaze ball than usual. The opening scene features a very interesting discussion on the ever declining need that women have for men. It's a theme that plays out quite well during the film. While the last part of the movie goes to some pretty dark places and things start to get all too real. Can Roger change his ways? Will men serve greater purpose in the future? This movie was directed by Dylan Kidd and won Best Feature at the very first Tribeca Film Festival. It was also the first movie to be shot in New York City after the September 11th attacks. The DVD is loaded with some pretty sweet special features so pick it up!

ROGER DODGER (2002) ***1/2 Campbell Scott, Jesse Eisenberg, Isabella Rosselini, Elizabeth Berkley, Jennifer Beals. Scott gives a remarkable performance as a silver-tongued misanthropic New York advertising copywriter facing a personal crises that only takes fuel to the fire when his teenage nephew Eisenberg (a nice thurst and parry polar opposite turn) comes to visit him to gain some insight to his ‘lady killing' social skills which leads to a night of unveiling some inner demons via his fast-talking eviscerations and character assassinations in a furiously funny way. Scott's bravura (and brave) take on a smart, verbose and insecure jerk straddles the fine line of being a complete monster and an honest to goodness dyed-in-the-wool cynic on the subject of the fairer sex (who are represented smartly by Rosselini as his on-the-skids lover/employer and Berkley and Beals as two young women the relatives hit on in an eye-opening lesson in the battle of the sexes and what it really means to be a man. A real sleeper gem with wickedly snaring arch humor to spare. Written and directed by novice filmmaker Dylan Kidd is one of the few politically incorrect triumphs in recent memory.

This first film of director Dylan Kidd is a smart and entertaining tentative for a male version of 'Sex in the City'. There certainly is a question mark over the morality of a story involving a 16 years young boy tutored into skirt-chase by his adult uncle, and this is one of the very few occasions where the R-rate is justified in my eyes. However, in the era of 'Sex in the City' this genre is already in line with popular entertainment.

The film is smart, extremely well acted, sometimes funny, sometimes moving and overall a pleasant cinema experience. It is probably worth seeing on small screen, as many scenes are intentionally filmed with an unsure hand-held camera. This works well on TV screen, may be a problem in a theater. 8 out of 10 on my personal scale.