Rick

If you go to the movies to feel good about life, to feel all warm and fuzzy about the world around you, then "Rick" isn't for you. However, if you delight in stories that revel in the darker side of human nature, that have a nasty sense of humor, then this incredibly dark comedy might be just the film for you.

Based on Verdi's opera, "Rigoletto," editor-turned-director Curtiss Clayton brings to life a script by Daniel Handler, better known to audiences as the "Lemony Snicket" author. In "Rick," Bill Pullman plays the title character, a man who works at a company called Image, though we're never told what exactly he or the company do. His boss Duke, almost half Rick's age, engages in machismo talk and has a penchant for online chats on a porn I'm service.

To reveal more would be to destroy much of the fun of this very wicked film.

"Rick" actually goes way beyond dark comedy. Pullman gains tremendous glee from playing someone loathsome. Come to think of it, with the exception of Rick's teen-age daughter Eve (played by the marvelously talented young actress Agnes Bruckner), there really aren't any likable people in this movie.

And Eve, who's the only one who sees the good in her dad, isn't exactly squeaky clean. She gets her kicks by "talking" dirty on the Internet. Bruckner, whose depiction of an emotionally scarred high school student in "Blue Car" was one of last year's highlights, finds just the right mix of confidence and innocence to make Eve believable.

Often, it is hard to be absorbed by a film where none of the characters seems to have any redeeming virtues. But, strangely, "Rick" manages to hook us. Mostly because we're initially intrigued by who these people are and why they behave so despicably. Watching Rick berate a woman interviewing for a job is uncomfortable. Yet, there's something hypnotic about the whole sequence.

This is extremely broad social satire veering into the absurd. This film is filed with several odd moments. The interview aside, there's the initial macho gamesmanship between Rick and Duke (played by Aaron Stanford as a slimy creature, quite a departure from playing 15-year-old Oscar Grubman in "Tadpole"). Then there's Buck (Dylan Baker), who meets Rick in a bar where people spy on other patrons. Buck tells Rick he runs his own company. There's a funny joke about that when Rick sees Buck's business card.

"Rick" is by no means a perfect dark comedy. But it definitely has a strange way of keeping you interested in its characters. They may not be likable but, damn it, they're most certainly intriguing and captivating. If you're in the mood for something out of the ordinary and you relish films that dabble in morally decrepit people, give "Rick" a peek. I've seen better films this year, but this one will stick in my mind for a long time.

It is surprising that an indie film was able to attract the talent of such talented actors, designers and crew, but over looked a critical element which is the film score. The music composed and arranged for this film was a very amateur work. So much so that it pulled you out of the story each time the poorly done music was played. You have to fight to not listen to it, so that you can keep your head in the story and action of the film. This is not the purpose of film music, it needs to work with the film, not against it.

The art direction was right on, as was the location shots of the film including the offices and the apartment. It is too bad that this wasn't done with a composer of the talents equal to the rest of the level of this film.

Other's have given good synopses of the plot so I'll not go along that route, and I'll keep this brief. One other commenter noted the quality of Bill Pullman and I have to concur. He has a habit of choosing rather off-beat films that deserve greater success than they receive; I'm thinking of The Zero Effect and Lost Highway rather than Independence Day.

I was expecting very little from this film and was awed by the quality of the production. Rick managed to build its own style as a film, being grotesque and dramatic, yet the moniker of DARK COMEDY was not a lie on the sleeve, it really was very funny.

Thankfully the film only follows the same general route as the opera. Guiseppe Verdi (sounds so dull when you translate it to English - Joe Green) never wrote for the screen. Yet... the production retains a very set-like feel, as if it was taken from a play.

The only criticism that I can really level at Rick is that it seems to lose its pacing in the last 15 minutes, when you can see the slow car-crash of a finale approaching. The director really passes up opportunities to build suspense and there is a feeling of an opportunity lost. However, this stands out only due to the quality overall.

In summary, it's got really superb characters, none of them are out of the box at all. Gothic and fatalistic, funny and sexy but cruel and merciless. The acting is faultless, stand-out performances from Bill Pullman and Sandra Oh, with a special mention for one of the most cringe-worthy bosses of all time to Aaron Stanford - watch out for him in the future.

When the Munich Filmfest 2004 offered "Rick" I was delighted. Because I love Verdi/"Rigoletto" and I happen to think that Bill Pullman is a very fine actor. (Whom I would like to see on stage; the biggest compliment I have to offer, Mr. Pullman -) However, I was/am deeply disappointed because this "adaptation" of a tragedy of Shakespearean or Greek dimensions, excepting one short moment, just didn't come off. To start with, Rick is such a hard-core bastard (much more so, mark you, than Rigoletto when, mistaking or over-doing his role as jester, laughs off the sorrow of a grieving father) that his janus-faced attitude of a loving father is about as 'convincing' as a square football! Moreover, his daughter Eve, apart from being a fairly attractive young female, has none of Gilda's characteristics. On the contrary, she's arrogant, spoiled, thoughtless, pretty ruthless and - in her own way - heartless. Very much like 'Duke' in fact whose part doesn't even begin to work, and remains shapeless and pale throughout the film. Thus, by victimizing Eve accidentally the writer and director achieve little more than a "Too bad"-reaction. And there are aeons between this and the suicide of Gilda, who knows only too well that she deliberately sacrifices her life for a man unworthy of her love.

However, there is ONE moment in "Rick" that is worthy of great drama/tragedy. And we owe it to (apart from Mr. Pullman) Ms Sandra Oh who (as Michelle) curses Rick in a night bar so vehemently, ferociously and convincingly that it took my breath away! Wow, WHAT a scene, what an actress!

This movie moved in such a quick and informative cycle I felt I couldn't spare 3 minutes to grab a feed bag and a bottle. I can't remember any movie I've seen lately being as captivating and quick.

The cast plays the characters in an alternately despicable and delectable, very off-hand way. Who to loathe... more? Many characters are disastrous self-absorptions.

Especially notable are the performances of Sandra Oh, Bill Pullman and Dylan Baker. I guess the most notable performance award from me goes to the guy who played Bill Pullman's boss (BIGBOSS), because I disliked that character so much I forgot to even look up the actor's name.

Details, details, delicious details are all over this film. The constantly changing phone number on BUCK's business card. The changing wallpaper, the distant behaviour of the friend of Rick's daughter. Rick's office door opening in different directions in different scenes.

This movie is worth every moment. I voted so high because I watched it on cable and I couldn't pause it and I wouldn't go pee.

Frankly, I found it to be a very captivating movie full of captivating characters full of honest hope and blind faith.