L'amour poursuite

First off, let me say I love this film. It might seem odd for a normal man of 30, when this film came out. But then, I like musicals, as well.

From reading the comments here and elsewhere, people seemed nonplussed as to how to categorized this film. What clued me in was the confusion it caused everybody.

This movie really is a mystery.

But the mystery isn't in the plot. It doesn't keep you guessing. Or the characters; they're played pretty straightforward. It's the genre. Every time you get comfortable with how it's being played, Rudolph switches it up.

Is it a film noir? Is it a comedy? Is it a love story? Uh, yes.

But that's the beauty of this film.

It keeps you guessing as to what it is.

And Rudolph would have been having a laugh for the past quarter century if more people could see this film for the brilliance it is.

Actually, if more people had seen it.

But now, he's waited so long for people to get it, that well . . .

This film go largely poor reviews, but for whatever reason the films of director Alan Rudolph always get me. A lot of his films seem to exist in their own universe. The noir elements of this film and "Trouble in Mind" feel quite similar, but even his films like "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" or "Choose Me" seem to exist on their own plane of reality. Tom Berenger plays a hard-boiled private investigator hired by Anna Archer to tail her shady boyfriend, which leads to a Raymond Chandler-esque serpentine mystery. Add in a competing P. I. in the form of equally tough-as-nails Elizabeth Perkins and you have an interesting love triangle of sorts between the three leads. What makes "Love at Large" memorable is writer/director Alan Rudolph and the unique style he brought to an oddball series of films he made in the 80s and early 90s, which seemed to exist somewhat out of time ("Trouble in Mind" "The Moderns" "Mrs. Parks and the Vicious Circle" and this film). These films were throwbacks to another time, but incorporated 80s/90s pastels and neon color palettes, along with modern sensibilities to the characters and situations. Composer Mark Isham's score also nicely balances a score that feels period yet also contemporary. Although the "Love at Large" meanders and is slow at times, the cast, which also includes Ted Levine, Kate Capshaw, Ruby Dee, Kevin J. O'Connor, Annette O'Toole, Anne Magnuson, and Neil Young, and Rudolph's visual style make the film well worth watching for fans of old school noir and 80's indie flicks. FUN FACT! "Love at Large" was filmed primarily in Portland, Oregon.

Alan Rudolph's soft-boiled, shaggy-dog detective parody stars Tom Berenger as a dim-witted private eye hired by torch singer Anne Archer to follow her boyfriend. He begins by tailing the wrong man, and soon finds himself pursued (again, by accident) by amateur gumshoe Elizabeth Perkins. The escalating complications lead nowhere in particular, but if quirkiness were a virtue Rudolph would be a saint, and his story takes some interesting detours on its way to a dead end conclusion. All the romantic whimsy and offbeat characters can't hide the brick wall Rudolph hits when trying to define the Meaning of Love, but on a strictly superficial level the film can be enjoyed as an elegant, empty caricature, with odd touches of retro-noir detail (Annette O'Toole, for example, dolled up as a Veronica Lake facsimile). Look for Gary Larson of The Far Side comic fame, playing guitar in the nightclub band.

This is a love story in the format of a comedy. Or, more appropriately, a love quest story. Like the Detective saga it parodies, the characters are on a search for absolution. But in Rudolph's screwball world where, for instance, every car is at least 20 years old and carries the model name "classic", all of this light madness works toward one, central theme: love is almost impossible to find, but, oh, so much fun to search for.

All the characters that are in long-term relationships are either breaking up, cheating on each other, or completely self-deluded. The other characters are in perpetual seek mode, from Miss Dolan who flirts and swoons wherever her whimsical heart takes her, to Stella, who studies "The Love Manual" and bitterly says things like, "the one who is in love always waits. It's the lover's signature."

Ultimately, this makes for light, entertaining fare. There aren't many bellylaughs, but there is a continual glow and a delightful, endearing glee about the film. Director Rudolph's cinematic sense is so keen that everything seems larger than it is, and more meaningful.

If you're a fan of film noir, you should like this 1990 takeoff of those 1940s films with Anne Archer as an exaggerated femme-fatale in distress and private detective Tom Berenger paid to spy on her husband.

It turns out to be a comedy, however, as Berenger tails the wrong guy but finds things interesting as they are. Then Berenger's girlfriend gets nervous and hires a female detective (Elizabeth Perkins) to spy on him, so everyone is watching everyone!

Although there isn't a lot of action, the film never drags and is a good combination of suspense, humor and drama/action. Also nice is the soundtrack, a "Midnight Run" sound with good blues guitar and trumpet plus a Leonard Cohen song to start the film. Good colors add to everything.

On the negative side, I didn't care for the ending regarding Archer, nor understand why she did what she did. Also, everyone in the film is a bit too sleazy. The other fault likes not in the movie but in the DVD which had a very weak transfer. Overall, fun for a couple of looks.