Word: screenplays
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ROLLOVER Directed by Alan J. Pakula Screenplay by David Shaber...
WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY? Directed by John Badham Screenplay by Brian Clark and Reginald Rose...
Directed by Harold Becker Screenplay by Darryl Ponicsan and Robert Mark Kamen
Kurt Luedtke, who wrote the screenplay--his first--spent most of his professional life as a journalist and editor. His awkwardness in the film medium becomes evident in the consistent heavy-handedness of the screenplay. Rather than emerging naturally out of situations, the irony hits the audience relentlessly, pounded in by sledgehammer lines wielded in close-up shots. "Things aren't always what they seem," Gallagher informs Meghan in a flash of inspiration. And in another exchange, a fellow reporter asks Meghan to describe her relationship with Gallagher. "Involved," she says. "Is that true?" the colleague asks...
Ultimately, Absence of Malice collapses under its own weight, becoming simplistic to the point of irrelevance. No amount of good intentions can save a screenplay determined to make the same point at every turn--and that is both accurate and the truth...