Maze

I kind of liked this movie, but I feel it is not quite as good as the reviews indicate. Good points: Excellent acting all around, good writing and decent direction. Bad points: Very slow pacing (too many dead spots), weak editing, and an annoying cinematography technique of switching to a first person view (and a blurry one at that) when Lyle is having a Tourette's attack. Overall: Good, but not great, 6/10.

I watched this movie with a great deal of interest as I have TS, as do both my sons. Rob Morrow gives a chilling performance - I thought he actually had Tourette's Syndrome. The frustration at not being able to do things the way he wants to because of his tics, the cruel comments from "normal people", the social ramifications and lack of self-worth were all portrayed exceptionally. I highly recommend this movie to anyone, but especially to those who know someone with TS. It gives a great deal of insight into the reality of life with TS. If you liked this movie you might want to see "The Tic Code" with Gregory Hines and Polly Draper.

MAZE (2001) *** Rob Morrow, Laura Linney, Craig Sheffer, Gia Carides, Rose Gregorio, Robert Hogan. Morrow - who co-wrote with Bradley White and co-produced - makes his big screen debut to boot as a gifted artist afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome who finds himself babysitting his friend Linney while her boyfriend - and his best friend - Sheffer - is working as a doctor in a third world nation, and the two bond closely when she reveals her pregnancy ultimately leading to love like no other. Fine acting by the two protagonists make up for the tricky camera maneuvers (i.e. Morrow's view point as a herky-jerky shake of the unfolding scenes at hand) in this otherwise unique spin on the suffering artist in love comedy/drama genre.

When I come across a movie that is directed by and stars a former TV actor who has only done sporadic film work, I worry that it is a vanity piece and not worth the price of the popcorn accompaniment.

I am always happy when I turn out to be wrong.

Maze is a very nice little film. Not great. Not staggering. It is just quite good. It concerns the flowering relationship between an afflicted artist and the girlfriend of one of his buddies: how and why it happens, the inner turmoil that results and the logical conclusion to the relationship of the three main characters. It doesn't stray from the focus on the main characters and in the course of the film we see and understand how they came to be where they are. To be honest, I have always considered Laura Linney and Rob Morrow to be only adequate actors. They are pleasant enough to watch, but I have never expected much from either. Even with Linney's recent critical acclaim, I didn't expect much from her in this film. Again I was wrong about both actors. Morrow does quite a good job giving us a character afflicted with Tourette's without it either being soooo distracting as to be annoying or looking like a histrionic excorcism. I felt that he was able to show a character that was crippled by his place in society but still letting us see that underneath was a basically good person. And letting us see that good person makes it believable that Laura Linney's character would love him, despite his disease's symptoms. Linney as well gave a performance of growing depth and understanding. We see her character move from genuinely liking Morrow as a comfortable friend to loving him as the true partner she wanted all along. We see it in her eyes when she looks at him, when they work and read together and in the very simple act of taking his hand and quietly calming him while sitting in an audience at a recital.

If you enjoy simple, focused, character movies, I would suggest checking Maze out at your local video store.

An artist suffering from Tourette's Syndrome falls in love with the pregnant girlfriend of his best friend while the latter's away. Morrow is a pretty good actor, but the film is undone by his pedestrian efforts as director and writer. The script is meant to be inspirational, but the execution is dull and eventually sappy. The direction is hackneyed. The symptoms of the disease are on display so often that it's a distraction; one waits for the next attack to manifest itself rather than focusing on the story. The only good thing about this tedious and clichéd film is Linney, who is terrific in just about anything she does.