New Suit

I saw New Suit at a student screening. The movie is a slick, fast moving satire on the film industry's the holy grail: a hot script.

This is a little movie that packs a lot into what I was told a One Million Dollar budget. The lead character, a hapless D-boy, JORDAN BRIDGES (development assistant/staff reader) stuck in a thankless job is charming and likeable from the get go. In fact, he may make a lot of the aspiring D-Boys nervous, since he has the routine down pat. The humor in the story has as tongue in cheek quality to it, and is a refreshing change from all the indie films that are trying way too hard to be "cool." Heather Donahue shows her comedy chops and is a majo, especially since her other big role was the from Blair Witch.

I may be the only one who sees this flick as a homage to CANDIDE in many ways. But, what the hell, I had a good time. The D.P, rocks, especially since he clearly had to make every shot count working on such a tight time frame and budget.

I was in New York and saw this film at the GenArt festival. I didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised with this smart comedy. With the kinds of movies the studios are releasing, it's refreshing to see such a well made, fun and entertaining indie film. The characters are hilarious, with an especially funny depiction of a desperate Hollywood producer by Dan Hedaya. The audience loved it and I was glad I got to see the film.

As self-confessed movie addict, I'd thought I'd seen it all -- but the new indie feature NEW SUIT still managed to impress me. Gorgeously filmed in the new digital 24P (the same technique used by George Lucas for the new Star Wars), NEW SUIT is reminiscent of other hip, fun movie satires like Swimming With Sharks, Living In Oblivion or even LA Story. This one, directed by Frenchman Francois Velle, is deliciously sharp and wickedly dark. Perhaps it takes an outsider to truly see through the gauze of the Hollywood dream factory. Smartly written, beautifully edited, finely acted and backed by a snazzy, peppy soundtrack, NEW SUIT is almost flawless as this French director's crossover English-language debut. As Hollywood hopeful Kevin Taylor, Jordan Bridges is both down-to-earth and likeable. Like his father Beau, he seems set for a very solid movie career. This kid has decency written all over him and is gorgeous to boot. The rest of the cast are equally charismatic, from Marisa Coughlin as beautiful aspiring agent Marianne Roxbury to Dan Hedaya as fearsome CEO Muster Hansau (even the names are hilariously on the nose). Mark Setlock and Heather Donohue (of Blair Witch fame) provide a wonderful comic due as Muster's put upon development executives, driven entirely by fear. Donohue, in particular, reminds one of a young Catherine O'Hara and one hopes she gets the chance to show off her comic talents in other movies. Screenwriter Craig Sherman even takes a cameo as the icecream man Kevin names his fictitious writer after (Jordan Strawberry).

Without giving the plot away, the bones of the story are deliciously simple. Disgusted by the game-playing and back-biting of the studio industry, Kevin takes the concept of the Emperor's New Clothes and makes up an entirely fictitious 'hot script' - just for the joy of seeing his peers squirm as they pretend to have read it. Too late, his 'joke' snowballs out of control - and even Marianne gets in on the scheme. Before she and Kevin know it, she's incited a bidding war between two rival producers, mediated by a icy, bald-domed studio head Braggy Shoot (with his own personal Feng Shui advisor) in a very funny performance by ER's Paul McCrane.

There's far too much to compliment about NEW SUIT -- it's richly layered with many, many insider jokes - and it's the kind of movie you'll want to watch a few times over to really savor all the funny details and smart/snide punchlines. NEW SUIT has the potential to be a hip cult favorite.

Watching HBO on a Tuesday afternoon is rarely a very rewarding activity. Wanna be films pour for more than eighty minutes on screen, making me wonder whether sleep doesn't truly have an intellectual purpose. However, from time to time, like once or twice every six months, it just so happens that there's film on, Tuesday in the afternoon, which has a title that appeals in even the faintest regard. Now, that's a day to keep in mind. When there's even a concept behind the thing, a tiny eye-hole vision, then you might just have yourself a funky time on your head.

"New Suit" is by far not an impressive film, but, given the circumstances above mentioned, it gathers some attention for itself, considering the allegorical context: Hollywood living in it's flawless suit of "despickability". Maybe there's not much to laugh at during the movie, but it's a pleasant feeling to sense someone small and innocent portraying Hollywood's fakeness and forgetting that everyone is a "victim" in the system. Of course, it doesn't go too deep and about half of the movie feels just like a dumped story of its kind, but being candid is that which makes it worth its while.

The actors are so well picked - total anonymity dispersed among some familiar faces - that they conjure this fantasy like atmosphere, cleverly backed up by some very lively, nearly surreal colors, obviously denoting that it doesn't take itself too serious. I have to appreciate "New Suit" for being smart, even though it remains somewhat hollow at times.

New Suit, which opens tomorrow, I had the chance to see on the Fox lot last year. Having been around and developing several screenplays, I can honestly say that this film looks to have been written by someone who has gone through some of the exact same things.

While certainly some of the comedy falls short, because comedies aren't easy to do, Jordan Bridges plays a pretty good "new guy" just starting out in the biz who has high hopes, yet are dashed by how he sees that films are really picked.

Most ' angry film students' who lived in fantasy land, like I once did, won't really appreciate the humor because they are dealing mostly with the microcosm of film school where they can do what they like (like the previos reviewer). That said, I do think that much of the films humor may be lost on a non-industry crowd, so I don't know where this film's future lies. Needless to say, I enjoyed it. (The side characters of the junior executives is dead on.)

Certainly photographed and cut like any other comedy released by a major studio, New Suit may not leave a big mark on anyone, but it's worth a look.

pJ