Bart Got a Room

I started off disliking 'Bart Got a Room' due to its painfully obvious set up, clichés and predictable storyline where you knew where this was going from the get-go. For the most part, it unfolded to where you thought so with just a hint of surprises. The idea behind the film, and hence the title, involves high schoolers scrambling to get a date and a "room" for prom night, since *Bart* got a room. Sure, when Bart's revealed in the room, they overshoot his nerd-factor, but the movie's clearly mean-spirited from all angles on a person that's different from the "norm." Again, they did dress up Bart as the stereotypical arrogant "Napoleon Dynamite," but it was a pretty harsh reality the parents were teaching their kids to be judgmental. Some segments were funny, I'll admit, but those few and far between scenes involved Macy (namely the woman running for her life and the older female with a housewarming gift.) And it was touching how down-on-his-own-bad-luck divorced father Macy would give up everything, including a date with poker-great Tilly, to aid his son's quest for a date. 'Bart' was a sweet, innocent movie (other than few scenes knocking down different people) and you could do worse, but there are far better high school comedies. Such as 'Election,' 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' and 'Juno.' You have to give kudos to the lead, Kaplan for trying to carry the movie, but not so much for the supporting case, like the overly clichéd "heavy-set" buddy, the pretty blonde cheerleader and the plain-Jane BFF that, shocking, should be his first pick for the prom. We've seen this plot dozens of times over, and one of my favorites was 'Some Kind of Wonderful.' Ironically, director Hecker, did seem to attempt (unsuccessfully) the heart of most Hughes movies.

A sweet, high school, screwball-lite with a great ending, and some enduring one liners, and a delightful William H Macy. The look of the film is litter with nice, small details that make the whole thing feel more real. The score is subtle, with a nice whimsical element to it. I was expecting a silly, maybe fun, raunch fest, but was glad to see I got something more real, touching, and delightful. The ending, at the prom, detouring into a bar mitzvah is adorable, with a great voice over from the lead, who plays slightly pathetic underdog well. When Macy buys a hooker for Bart to take to the prom, it's funny as hell. All in all, all sorts of fun.

I remember seeing a preview for this movie on The Movie Channel, I think that was the channel. Then about 2 days later I saw the movie for sale at Wal-mart. That night I actually watched it. I thought it was hilarious in so many ways. Yeah, some of the humor is kind of ridiculous but it's directed towards teens and young adults. In so many ways I can relate to this movie and so can other people i'm sure. I was very pleased with William H. Macy's performance. I also liked it because it had both actors we already know, and some that we have never seen before, or at least I haven't. All in all I think this film was very good and I hope that everyone gets a chance to see it.

Looking back at this film, there are quite a number of scenes that seem as if they, and the movie that they are in, should be superb. Actually watching the scenes, and watching the film as a whole however, the effect is rather lackluster. Objectively, I can't say that the movie is a bad one, and some people will probably love, it, but for many or most people, I suspect that the film will not live up to its potential. Its difficult to say exactly why, but I can nominate three potential reasons.

1.

Comparative lack of comedic follow-through. In many comedic scenes in film, you can see an embarrassing situation emerging a few seconds or minutes before the specific situation ends. Rather than playing each scene through from beginning to bitter end, 'Bart Got A Room" tends to lay out the scene, and clip off the last uncomfortable moments. This device does not render the scenes unfunny, and it could make the film a bit more subtle. "Bart Got A Room" is not the most exciting or unpredictable film however, and the closely trimmed scene endings make the movie more boring.

2.

A vast proportion of the world's humor comes from people and the world as a whole not living up to expectations. Much humor represents an idealistic implicit criticism of these failures and imperfections.

The creators of this film seem to embrace, rather than criticize imperfection however, particularly in the ending, and not so much by defiantly embracing an alternate standard of perfection, but by saying that "hey, settling for ______ is okay." Obviously the difference between different sorts of acceptance (of imperfection) are subtle, but but this film seems to be more "settle for it" than usual, and the implicit lack of idealism leads to less ideal-driven humorous criticism.

3.

This film has a very clear Florida setting and cultural identity, and ordinarily this would be a strict virtue, adding a bit of realism instead of pretending to a placeless universality. Unfortunately, the film is so subtle/dull overall, that the setting and specific characterization overwhelms the overall story and other elements to a degree. Most likely the filmmakers should have made the story and characters a bit more interesting, rather than make the background less interesting, but something should have been done.

Just tripped over this movie on cable without ever having heard anything about it before, and when I came across it, the direction and music reminded me so much of Barry Sonnenfeld's direction I thought it -had- to be something of his I had never seen before (and I'm a big Sonnenfeld fan, esp of titles like "Get Shorty" and "Big Trouble" - the unfortunately timed release which had to be delayed due to 9/11. But watch "Bart..." and then watch "Big Trouble" and you'll see the similarities in style).

"Bart..." had some thin plot lines here and there, but the overall production was crisp and mostly entertaining. The pace was mostly quick, although there were one or two places it seemed to stall; but overall the use of wide and interesting camera angles, quick cuts, and, again, the snappy music selections (which were not main stream) kept everything moving despite what you'd think of as a fairly shallow overall plot.

Another quirky but all-too-human Bill Macy performance juxtaposed against our star Steven Kaplan who plays the focus of the date-hunt. That was good casting. Jennifer Tilly has a little bit part which you're dying to see go somewhere - but when it doesn't, it reinforces the kind of loser-status-but-we-protect-our-own flavor of dad Ernie Stein (Bill Macy).

Production wise: better than most. Quirky, fun, not heavy, but has a nice message overall. Fun to see once or twice.

Director Brian Hecker as the new Sonnenfeld? We'll have to wait and see. Big shoes to fill.