Film review: 'Spent'
To his credit, Gil Cates Jr. has tackled a serious theme for his debut as a feature screenwriter-director in "Spent". But at this stage of his career, he lacks the dramatic means to achieve his goals. This examination of the psychological mechanics of addiction hugs the surface without ever getting to the heart of the matter.
Regent Entertainment has limited ambitions for this film after today's opening in Los Angeles. It opens Aug. 11 in New York and will perhaps surface in five more cities -- which is just as well because even excellent films about compulsive behavior have spotty boxoffice records.
The addictions examined are gambling and drinking. Although given the number of cigarettes smoked by the characters -- or is it the actors? -- yet another compulsion is on display here.
Our victim-heroes are Max (Jason London), an actor who works sporadically but consumes his days wagering on sports, and his girlfriend Brigette (Charlie Spradling), who continually badgers him about his gambling without realizing she has a similar problem with alcohol. The film soon gets caught up in a waiting game to see which character will be the first to grasp the depth of his or her addiction.
"Spent" runs through the usual gambling-movie cliches -- the ridiculous wager our addict cannot possibly pay off, his adamant denials of any problem, the frantic manipulation of finances and friends to stay afloat.
The film is curiously uninterested in Brigette's drinking problem other than in how it mirrors Max's gambling compulsion. In fact, women in general are ill-served here: The only other female role of any consequence exists mostly for a tasteless scene revolving around the size of the woman's nipples.
As a writer, Cates tends to state themes rather than dramatize them. Subtext and subtlety scarcely exist. Characters talk about their problems like callers on a radio shrink's talk show.
Supporting roles are poorly designed. The worst belongs to James Parks, playing a closet gay who hangs himself when he can't express his feelings for Max -- a plot line that feels like a relic from a movie made 25 years ago.
Erin Beaux's Nathan is singularly obsessed with the aforementioned nipples, while Phill Lewis' Doug is obsessed with getting his screenplay to Jack Nicholson at a Lakers game. That he stakes out courtside seats at the Forum rather than Staples Center shows how long this film has been sitting on the shelf.
The camerawork is functional at best, and a musical score turns on and off with little relationship to what's on the screen.
SPENT
Regent Entertainment
trademark entertainment/Rana Joy Glickman
Producers: Rana Joy Glickman,
Jordan Summers, Gil Cates Jr.
Screenwriter-director: Gil Cates Jr.
Executive producers: Joe Cates, Jordan Zevon
Director of photography: Robert D. Tomer
Production designer: Aaron Osborne
Music: Stan Ridgway
Co-producer: Deborah Henderson
Costume designer: Mimi Maxmen
Editor: Jonathan Cates
Color/stereo
Cast:
Max: Jason London
Brigette: Charlie Spradling
Doug: Phill Lewis
Nathan: Erin Beaux
Grant: James Parks
Jay: Richmond Arquette
Running time - 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Regent Entertainment has limited ambitions for this film after today's opening in Los Angeles. It opens Aug. 11 in New York and will perhaps surface in five more cities -- which is just as well because even excellent films about compulsive behavior have spotty boxoffice records.
The addictions examined are gambling and drinking. Although given the number of cigarettes smoked by the characters -- or is it the actors? -- yet another compulsion is on display here.
Our victim-heroes are Max (Jason London), an actor who works sporadically but consumes his days wagering on sports, and his girlfriend Brigette (Charlie Spradling), who continually badgers him about his gambling without realizing she has a similar problem with alcohol. The film soon gets caught up in a waiting game to see which character will be the first to grasp the depth of his or her addiction.
"Spent" runs through the usual gambling-movie cliches -- the ridiculous wager our addict cannot possibly pay off, his adamant denials of any problem, the frantic manipulation of finances and friends to stay afloat.
The film is curiously uninterested in Brigette's drinking problem other than in how it mirrors Max's gambling compulsion. In fact, women in general are ill-served here: The only other female role of any consequence exists mostly for a tasteless scene revolving around the size of the woman's nipples.
As a writer, Cates tends to state themes rather than dramatize them. Subtext and subtlety scarcely exist. Characters talk about their problems like callers on a radio shrink's talk show.
Supporting roles are poorly designed. The worst belongs to James Parks, playing a closet gay who hangs himself when he can't express his feelings for Max -- a plot line that feels like a relic from a movie made 25 years ago.
Erin Beaux's Nathan is singularly obsessed with the aforementioned nipples, while Phill Lewis' Doug is obsessed with getting his screenplay to Jack Nicholson at a Lakers game. That he stakes out courtside seats at the Forum rather than Staples Center shows how long this film has been sitting on the shelf.
The camerawork is functional at best, and a musical score turns on and off with little relationship to what's on the screen.
SPENT
Regent Entertainment
trademark entertainment/Rana Joy Glickman
Producers: Rana Joy Glickman,
Jordan Summers, Gil Cates Jr.
Screenwriter-director: Gil Cates Jr.
Executive producers: Joe Cates, Jordan Zevon
Director of photography: Robert D. Tomer
Production designer: Aaron Osborne
Music: Stan Ridgway
Co-producer: Deborah Henderson
Costume designer: Mimi Maxmen
Editor: Jonathan Cates
Color/stereo
Cast:
Max: Jason London
Brigette: Charlie Spradling
Doug: Phill Lewis
Nathan: Erin Beaux
Grant: James Parks
Jay: Richmond Arquette
Running time - 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/21/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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