Word: melodrama
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This is a melodrama that seems to have everything, save a compelling reason to be tying up space on a federal-court docket crowded with far more serious cases. As Jackson's indictment makes clear, no violence was threatened, no extorted money changed hands. As for any injury Cosby's reputation may have suffered from the press attention that attended Jackson's arrest last January, the actor inflicted far more damage on himself when he subsequently admitted in an interview with Dan Rather not only that he had a "rendezvous" with Jackson's mother more than 20 years...
...same time as the American audience. Perhaps they know it too well. A manic roteness now envelops action films; the need to thrill has become a drab addiction. Isn't there more to moviemaking than having your finger on the pulse of the world public? Can't the megalo-melodrama be infused with passion and ingenuity? The answer so far, and with just one exception, is no--not this season. For this is the Summer of Dumb...
CLUELESSNESS. Melodrama at its best involves a conflict between intelligent good and cunning evil. But it's easier just to have smart people do dumb things. The noble intentions of The Lost World's team of scientists--trying to protect the dinosaurs from a group of rapacious hunters--are undercut by some laughably inane fieldwork. They take close-up photos of the beasts with incredibly noisy cameras that are bound to startle any dino into a frenzy; they kidnap a T. rex baby to mend its leg while Big Mama prowls closer. It's knaves vs. fools in the Jurassic...
...actors go bigger, so does the film; it's the most delirious major-studio melodrama since Natural Born Killers. But it's also dead serious--because Woo has restored moral gravity to acts of violence. This isn't just a thrill ride; it's a rocket into the thrilling past, when directors could scare you with how much emotion they packed into a movie...
Amid its shortcomings, the script of "Showboat" does have its moments. A particularly witty scene--in fact, the funniest in the entire show--presents a satirical parody of "showboat" theater, the kind of absurd melodrama that makes the framing drama look great in comparison, and reaches its pinnacle of hilarity with Cap'n Andy's spirited one-man enactment of the denouement and the wonderful punchline: "Curtain! No refunds." And the irresistible swing of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" will have you humming or whistling it before you exit the theater. No wonder that song, along with...