Word: kasdan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Directed by Lawrence Kasdan...
...Mumford, writer/director/producer Lawrence Kasdan attempts to tell the tale of Doctor Mumford (Loren Dean) and the wide variety of patients and personas that he encounters through his small town practice. The dominant flaw of the film is Kasdan's unparalleled ability to get sidetracked. Perhaps he was distracted by episodes of America's Most Wanted, perhaps by cheesy soap operas, or maybe even by an episode of Judge Judy. The only word that sufficiently describes the plot of Mumford, and I'll I say it three times, is random, random, random...
...line peters along very slowly, chock full of pointless little twists of plot, until about an hour into the movie when, once again, a very random five minutes reveal several disturbing little aspects of the past of our hero, Dr. Mumford. It's a welcome surprise--in doing so, Kasdan finally provides the film with some conflict and direction. (At the same time, these five minutes also show that the overly drawn-out first half of the movie could have been condensed into ten minutes...
...revelation, the seemingly psychoanalytical and introspective nature of the flick turns into a ridiculous Disneyland soap opera where everyone loves everyone and all problems are solved. And if that weren't bad enough, as soon as the you start to think you know which way the movie is going, Kasdan tricks you again and mixes a cheesy love story ending with a pathetic courtroom scene that looks like it may have been slapped on at the last minute to meet a deadline...
...John M. Kasdan '60, a lecturer in law at Columbia University, is helping the station in planning and also in providing coverage of local arts events. The first such program aired last week...