The Fall

This is without doubt one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The acting reminds me of a Japanese Noh play- the actors don't seem able to move and speak at the same time. The characterisation is implausible. Special dishonourable mention must go to William Devane's blind judge, who I think is supposed to be Tom Waits. Did I mention he was blind? In fact, every possible stereotype is wheeled out: the facially disfigured girlfriend, the handicapped judge, rampantly homophobic treatment of the gay characters and the women are all scheming bitches who are prepared to use their sexuality to manipulate the hapless men to their bidding. Do not watch this film: if you have a can of paint in the house apply somewhere and watch it dry; it will be a much more fruitful use of your time.

About 10 minutes in I started to realize this was not "The Fall" a friend recommended to me (that was most likely one made in 2006). I started to get that "ah crap" feeling when I realized this was a "B" movie. Nevertheless I stayed with it and bared through the slow plot and terrible 80's porno music, unnecessary nudity & useless profanity. The movie gets more than one star because of fairly good misleading storyline that fakes the viewer out and keeps the film from being completely predictable. At the end, however, you're left feeling dirty, depressed and terribly unsatisfied. (I actually had nauseating dream about shooting someone in the head several times that night)

At this writing, there are 21 votes on IMDb for this film, with an average vote of 8.7 out of 10. It occurs to me that those 21 people in all likelihood made this movie themselves. That is the only reason I can conjure up for the positive rating. I spent much of my life as a film critic, seeing movies that thrilled me and disgusted me and bored me and moved me, but I have never seen a movie so jaw-droppingly awful as this one. I will say that the cinematography is not bad. I will also admit the possibility that actors Benjamin Ciaramello and Peter Cilella conceivably are capable of good work, given good material and a good director, neither of which they had here. The same applies to Erica Curtis and maybe, just maybe, Erica Shaffer, both of whom are quite attractive and charismatic and are saddled with inane dialog and preposterous character shifts. And of course, William Devane, slumming here, is well known for his brilliance, none of which accompanied him to the set of this film. But none of the other performances are worthy of the benefit of the doubt. Scott Kinworthy, in the leading role as the most unlikely, dim-witted, and slow-talking gubernatorial prospect in the history of politics, leads (drags?) a cast of incompetents through some of the most bizarre and painfully elongated dramatic hysteria you are likely to see in your life. If you have ever stumbled across one of those late-night Cinemax movies about topless alien girls from Venus shagging hunky but stupid lawyers, you have seen far, far better movies than this one. Add to the terrible dialog and oscillating character traits an utter absence of awareness how the U.S. court system and criminal incarceration systems work, and you have a masterpiece of dramatic disaster. One minute into the film, I thought it might be interesting. Two minutes in, I got a little worried that the director didn't know how to cut out of a scene. Three minutes in, my jawed dropped to my collarbone and for the next incredibly long two hours it sank further and further until it came to rest on my lap. I'm not sure how I managed to stay through the entire film, but when I came out, the look on my face was of such utter disbelief that an usher gave me free passes and said, "I'm sorry. Come back and see a good movie," before I even had a chance to complain. But he couldn't figure out how to give me my two hours back. Save yourselves.

Some reviews on this board don't do justice to this film. Sometimes I wonder why some "critics" go so hard on indie films, but give passing grades to mainstream Hollywood garbage. "The Fall" is not "The Godfather" nor "The Room". In other words, the film is not brilliant, but neither is a traumatizing event as another reviewer on this board would have you believe. It's true that the lead actor is weak, there are some plot-holes and director John Krueger is clearly an amateur, however the story is interesting, the rest of the cast is quite good, and the cinematography is very glossy and moody. Erica Shaffer and Benny Ciaramello gave really good performances here. There are several great dramatic scenes and a few bizarre ones that were obviously meant to be surreal. Overall I liked this film and I would like to read more reviews on this board to see other people's thoughts.