Nick Nolte: No Exit (2008)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Interesting, if not totally successful, documentary has Nick Nolte pretty much interviewing himself as he discusses various issues ranging from his acting career, to People's sexiest man and even his infamous DUI mugshot, which we learn wasn't really a mugshot. The documentary kicks off with us learning Nolte has three testicles and things pretty much don't let up from that point on. We see two different versions of Nolte here. One appears to be himself with the other, dressed like a reporter from the 40s, asking all the questions. This style is a rather weird one and it takes a while to get use to and one really has to wonder why this decision was made. Was it meant to show that Nolte is a strange guy so they're going to show this in a strange way? Perhaps but where the documentary fails is that we really don't get to learn too much. We learn that Nolte was a big fan of Brando and we learn that he's proud of his film work and wants to be looked at as a great actor and not a sex object. We learn that getting laid is a great reason to become an actor. He briefly mentions films like 48 HOURS, NORTH DALLAS FORTY, Q&A and a few others but says very little about them. We really don't get to know too much about their making and we get to know even less about various other subjects. Jacqueline Bisset, Rosanna Arquette, Ben Stiller, James Gammon, Powers Boothe, Barbara Hershey and F.X. Feeney are just a few of his friends who are interviewed here. All of them add some pretty interesting and at times funny stories but in the end we still don't get to know too much. It's obvious that the documentary wants us to know that Nolte is weird and he wants us to look at him that way. As lacking as the film is, at the same time it's rather hard to take your eyes off Nolte no matter what he's saying.
