Dummy

I had a premonition I was about to see a comedy with a lot of heart even before the main titles played out at a screening of "Dummy" at the American Film Market 2000 recently.

In the opening scene, Steven, who lives with his eccentric parents and sister, sits enthralled watching the flickering tv image of ventriloquist Edgar Bergan and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. As the camera moves in on the young man, we see in his eyes the depth of his dreams and aspirations to at last make something of his humdrum life. The next day, he gives up his 9-to-5 job and announces to his dysfunctional family that he wants to be a ventriloquist. His ever-busy mother(Jessica Walter), making yet another tuna sandwich, remarks that his career choice is" nice but not very realistic" while his sister observes that with the dummy on his lap, Steven looks like a child molester.

Casting is right on the mark. Adrien Brody brings a sympathetic and likable quality to the role of Steven as he manipulates his dummy to express his own private fears and feelings to the people around him. Vera Farmiga, the love interest, is extremely engaging as his employment counselor and Illeana Douglas, the very unmarried sister, is constantly funny. Outstanding too is Milla Javovich as Steven's best friend, a punk rocker with layers of attitude. Writer and director Greg Pritikin skillfully holds down the pathos and gives his film just the right touch of humor. An entertaining movie that is worth a look.

"Dummy" is an impressive movie for many reasons, but let's start with the show stealer... Milla Jovovich. Her character is something like a female Beavis & Butthead rolled into one but with great character development and evolution which pays off with her riveting singing performance at the story's climax. Her scenes alone (which some appreciative youtubers have strung together for our enjoyment) are worth the price of admission.

Not to be overshadowed is Adrian Brody who plays a nerdy ventriloquist (whose only friend is Milla). And in case you're wondering, yes, he operated the puppet and did all the ventriloquism himself according to the credits at the end.

The story: a nerdy ventriloquist wannabe (Brody), who is living at home at age 30-something because he can't keep a real job, pairs up with his high school pal (Jovovich) to chase his dreams and simultaneously win the love of a girl he's stalking. The humor is that the two of them, Brody & Jovovich, play characters who are so socially stunted that they'd be lucky if they could ride a bus downtown, let alone achieve their dreams of glory. By the way, Milla's dream is to be a punk rocker, but she keeps getting waylaid by the fact that her guitarist can never seem to get the right "reeear-weew-breeer-woow" (that's a quote). Until they switch to a bizarre new music genre which I won't spoil, you just gotta check it out and you WON'T be disappointed.

There's a simultaneous subplot involving our hero's sister (played by the hilarious Illeana Douglas) who is a failed-singer-turned-wedding-planner also living at home at age 30-something whist being stalked by an alcoholic accountant who does community theater in his spare time.

Perhaps you've figured it out from my description; this is a film about people who have failed in various degrees to achieve their dreams, and now solidly rooted in mediocrity, they make their way through life on the line of sanity. And frequently tripping over said line.

"Dummy" is a true gem of quirky excellence. The comedic timing between Brody's subdued character and Jovovich's hyper manic character is impeccable. Not to mention other supporting characters like the mother, father and of course Brody's love interest who each play memorable roles that contribute greatly to the humor. "Dummy" is an all round solid comedy that deserves a respectable cult following. Definitely not a wooden performance. Har har.

Let's face it: even Woody Allen has gotten stale setting up laughs using the stereotypical Jewish dysfunctional family (is there an oxymoron in that description?). It's been done so many times. The welcome surprise is that director and writer Greg Pritikin takes this old kreplach (in place of chestnut) and makes it work with a novel theme brought to life by a terrific cast.

Adrien Brody made this movie before his Oscar-winning portrayal of a gifted Jewish musician in "The Pianist." Here he is a young man, Steve, whose lifelong ambition (he's bordering on thirty) is to become a ventriloquist. He buys a dummy and takes lessons (Brody, who passed fairly well as a concert pianist in his better known film, actually did all the dummy tricks and ventriloquism here).

Steve lives at home with his mom (Jessica Walter) who is forever shoving food at everyone. His dad (Ron Leibman) is retired and he pursues a common hobby of men no longer gainfully employed: making scale model warships while watching hard core porn. Sister Heidi (Ileana Douglas) dreamed of becoming a singer. Her ambition crushed, largely by her scatterbrain mother, she is now a wedding planner, her first big job creating agita in the first degree. She's pursued by a clearly insane former fiance to her distress.

Steve's closest friend from high school days is rock singer Fangera (Milla Jovovich) who has a cum laude Master's in Public Crudity. Their relationship is platonic and Fangera is very albeit crazily devoted to her longtime buddy. Desperate for work for herself and her band, she passes herself off to Heidi as a klezmer specialist, exactly what the despairing wedding planner needs for her first big event. Of course she knows nothing about klezmer music and her immersion in studying that genre is a riot by itself. So is the payoff at the wedding.

Steve, fired from his job, meets employment counselor Lorena (Vera Farmiga) and sparks of all kind begin to fly. Lorena is a single mother with an adorable little girl and she's both attracted to Steve and shy about a commitment. Their relationship, which begins with a weird approach concocted by the barely sane Fangera, rolls back and forth and is kind of touching.

No need to say more about the plot. This fast-paced romantic comedy works with all the principal cast members playing off each other in an often funny and occasionally serious and meaningful way. Surprises are few but when has a ventriloquist's dummy been central to story development in any recent film?

The special features on the DVD are fun. Included is an interactive test in which the viewer answers a series of questions and then finds out what kind of dummy he or she is. I was ranked a ...hey, that's my personal business.

There's also a storyboard history of ventriloquism which points out that this entertainment form allowed, decades ago, a performer to "say" things through his dummy that would have been unacceptable directly from his mouth (including negative comments about politicians).

As usual, reading the credits closely paid off. The technical adviser was Paul Winchell and the assistant technical adviser...Jerry Mahoney. I think you have to be from my generation to appreciate that.

8/10

Dummy (2002)

A fun, offbeat, somewhat frivolous charcoal gray comedy. It's hilarious in spots and touching in spots, and has some terrific acting. The overall scenario is a situation comedy, drawn out over the hour and a half, and it might have made a tighter hour long television show. At times it seems to really hit an eccentric tone that's terrific and even a little surreal, as with some of the family interactions, played with beautiful deadpan steadiness. And when it's a moving romantic comedy, you appreciate the restrained, sympathetic acting of several of the leads. There isn't a bad performance in the lot of them.

This movie is terrific. It's very funny and very powerful. Everything that happens is a necessary plot point to tell the story. Nothing is extraneous. Each character is uniquely entertaining and real, they each remind us of someone we know. We root for Stephen, we dislike Heidi, and we can't help but love Fanny. The characters are developed wonderfully. The performances are all terrific. I've never seen any of Adrien Brody's work before, but if it's all as great as this then he's destined for super stardom. Illeana Douglas is hilarious and perfect as usual. I was most blown away by Milla Jovovich. She's amazingly fun to watch on screen and her New Jersey accent is dead-on. Great dialog and flawless directing. Simply put it's a wonderful film with a unique theme, which is unique in itself.