King of the Corner

Peter Riegert's film, King of the Corner, based on Gerald Shapiro's work, Bad Jews and Other Stories, offers a remarkable glimpse into one man's struggle to balance the demands of dealing with an aging parent, raising a teenager daughter, remaining faithful in his marriage, maintaining some sort of credibility at work, as well as coming to terms with his own past choices. I absolutely loved the way in which the central metaphors worked in the film--Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," the image of the "bad Jew" dancing around the idol while Moses is receiving the stone tablets, and the story of Leo's father playing "King of the Corner" in the swimming pool. These sorts of symbolic connections give this movie a measure of humanity and much more depth than you would find in a typical Hollywood film.

Riegert's performance was wonderfully low key. Leo doesn't whine, he doesn't rant (except maybe in the scene with the focus group), and he doesn't degenerate into farce (except maybe in the scene when he confronts his lover's husband). For the most part, he remains sensitive and thoughtful as he tries to put his world back together. The highlight of Riegert's portrayal is the scene at his father's funeral. It was an emotionally charged scene, a scene that many actors would have been tempted to overdo, that was played perfectly by Riegert.

This is truly wonderful film. Eli Wallach, Rita Moreno, Beverly D'Angelo...everyone does a terrific job. If you want to see a warm, thoughtful film about real people trying to come to terms with real issues in a sometimes crazy world, then this is a film you shouldn't miss.

First-time feature director Peter Riegert gathered a great ensemble cast for this combination of two short stories from Gerald Shapiros's wonderful book "Bad Jews" (recently featured in NPR interviews) about a middle-aged salesman and his family coping with aging parents, rebellious teens and former high school crushes from years past. Some of the products Leo (Riegert) does focus groups for are outrageous (a voice changer for phones that makes you sound like Gregory Peck, an alarm that scares off burglars with a pre-recorded family quarrel). His protege, Ed (Dustin Hoffman's son, Jake, described in the original screenplay as "looks like a young Dustin Hoffman" - what were the chances?) starts pushing for Leo's job while Leo's dad (Eli Wallach) steals scenes as a querulous curmudgeonly senior. Eric Bogosian is a welcome addition as a free-lance rabbi who makes Leo confront his father's legacy (best clerical scene-stealer since Rowan Atkinson in Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Mamma Mia! Rita Moreno, Isabella Rossellini and Beverly D'Angelo competing as "mature" sex symbols of the year! At today's Mill Valley Film Fest screening Peter said he'll open in NY & LA at least (March 2005)and build from there. A charming low-budget labor of love that may have to earn a reputation by word of mouth (unless someone from Miramax is paying attention- are you there, Harv?)...

First comment: People, don't forget to submit a vote with your review! I'm reading the reviews and most are excellent, and I'm wondering why the overall rating is only a 6.3. Then I see a lot of excellent reviews with NO VOTE! I assume these are counted as ZEROs in the rating.

REVIEW - I saw this movie at the Philadelphia Film Festival on 4/16/2004. I thought it was very good - both sad and funny. My favorite part was the interaction between the main character, Leo (Peter Riegert) and his father (Eli Wallach). Eric Bogosian was also very funny as the rabbi. And although her part was small, it was worth seeing how great Rita Moreno looked - Wow, she looks amazing! She made Isabella Rossellini look like a haggard old frump. The daughter was nothing special, and the weakest link was the up and coming business hot shot played by Jake Hoffman (Dustin Hoffman's son.) He was too young and goofy to play a ruthless guy moving up in the business world.

It's a shame that a bittersweet comedy like this that combines elements of different genres and can't be easily characterized as a "Drama" or a "Comedy" or a "Tearjerker" will have trouble finding an audience. Hollywood's marketing people need to do a better job of finding an audience for these films - there are tons of people who want to see movies like this, and they are too lazy to figure out how to market them. It's easy to market to teenage boys - do a little work and figure out how to reach the audience who wants to see movies like this! The only scene I thought was a little unrealistic was the scene I'll simply refer to as the "underwear" scene. As the scene was going on, I thought maybe it was going to be revealed as a dream sequence - it just seemed like such a strange and out of character thing for Leo to do.

I would love to see this movie find its rightful audience. Many people would enjoy this movie.

Peter Riegert's feature directorial (and screenplay writing) debut and I'd say it was auspicious. He's assembled a great cast: Isabella Rossellini, a wonderfully curmudgeonly Eli Wallach, Eric Bogosian, with the usual quality work from Riegert himself, and a nice comic performance from Dustin Hoffman's son Jake. It has the feel of a European film: humor, pathos, manic comedy, more than one touch of wisdom and insight. This is a little fable that never loses its touch with reality, though in the way of many comedies it goes off the rails once or twice. Great ensemble work from Riegert and the entire cast--the film has a philosophical viewpoint, and yet is not afraid of showing real emotion. Highly recommended.

King of the Corner is a gift to us from a group of wonderfully talented actors (Eli Wallach, Isabella Rossellini, Rita Moreno, Peter Reigert and more) who are brought together by Peter Reigert to tell this story of a man coming apart at the seams. Leo is under pressure by his ailing dad, by a younger man competing for his job, by a wife unhappy with the marriage, by a difficult teenage daughter and by a sense of life losing all meaning. With a very healthy mix of humor and warmth, Leo lives the minutes and hours of his life fully and suffers his way forward in a way that we want to go with him and learn and live our way forward. This is a highly recommended film for everybody who wants to follow the human condition through the story of one man and his struggles.