Touch

Occasionally Elmore Leonard writes about something other than the underworld. Here his wonderful dialogue and amusing characters are centered around, not a bank robber or ex-con, but a young man who receives miraculous stigmata. The tone is stirical and the comedy is quite dark; definitely worth a look. After Get Shorty Hollywood seemed to finally get how to translate Leonard to the screen, and Touch certainly belongs in the company of Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight. The cast is perfect in this one, with Skeet Ulrich and Bridget Fonda the best they've been so far, plus Christopher Walken in full glory, and Tom Arnold (yes, That Tom Arnold) just dead on as a religious zealot. This one didn't get much of a theatrical run so go find it at the video store.

`You are an odour in the nostrils of God,' jabbers religious zealot August Murray (Tom Arnold). He is damning sometime revivalist Bill Hill's (Christopher Walken) cynical marketing of Christ-like figure Juvenal (Skeet Ulrich essentially playing Edward Scissorhands minus the blades). Hill wearing a glitzy gold jacket and an enormous `Thank You Jesus' necklace sees a book deal and a slot on the awful Debra Lusanne Show (Gina Gershon superb at mimicking Ricki Lake with a snarl) for the innocent healer, who has stigmata on his rib cage.

In lesser hands than Paul Schrader, Elmore Leonard's non-crime novel could have become an overwrought toil in the evils of America's salacious media. However, Touch is actually a wryly amusing and unhurried look at faith and exploitation. The histrionics and belly laughs are bestowed upon the cameos, who obviously capture the best lines: `Do they make condoms that protect the soul' (Arnold) and `Controversy is the oxygen I breathe' (Gershon). Ultimately, best savoured on video. --Ben Walsh

While TOUCH may not be up to the level of GET SHORTY, OUT OF SIGHT, or JACKIE BROWN, it's not a bad little movie. Certainly it's an odd book from Leonard, as he admitted in his introduction, but it worked for me, and given Paul Schraeder's history with religious themed films(TAXI DRIVER, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST), it seemed natural he would direct. This is not a great movie, because Schraeder doesn't go as deep as Leonard did into his characters, and some of the humor doesn't translate. But most of it does, and this avoids the heavy-handedness of most movies about angels/healers/devils. Part of that is due to Skeet Ulrich, who should avoid hearing Johnny Depp comparisons after this movie, because he shows a personality all of his own. And Bridget Fonda pairs up nicely with him. This movie even gets a good performance out of Tom Arnold. All in all, underrated and deserves checking out.

Don't be fooled by the subject matter - an ex-monk, who can heal the sick by touching them, but suffers stigmata each time and gets caught up in a whirl of religious fanatics, big-business evangelists and ratings-hungry media - this is a sweet and touching romantic comedy!

Leave it to Paul Schrader to find a way to do some heavy soul-searching without getting heavy-handed, yet always remaining quirky as we know him from his dramas. A wonderful supporting cast (Christopher Walken, Tom Arnold, Janeane Garofalo, Lolita Davidovich and Gina Gershon) adds color and texture to the story without detracting from the quiet chemistry going on between Skeet Ulrich and Bridget Fonda. When Ulrich says without grandeur that he believes in God and miracles, you don't even think twice about it - you believe every word he says at face value. A rare performance.

I did not start watching this movie as an Elmor Leonard novelization come to film. In fact I wasn't aware that it was a Leonard novel until I just accessed this page. This said, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I originally checked it out of the video store because of Christopher Walken's involvement, plus I had seen an interview with Bridget Fonda on the making of the movie, and found the concept to be intriguing. I found the characters, acting and direction on target for the subject matter, the way that recent journalistic direction and everyday cynicism would effect the life of a person with real God-given talents. The experiences that Juvenal goes through are realistic, as are his reactions. Definitely grist for reflection, and I'm an atheist. All in all, don't go into this movie expecting it to be something it's not, and you won't be