Word: underwritten
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Meet Joe Black tries to follow in the footsteps of Titanic as an overbudgeted attempt at epic romance. But where the latter had compelling, dramatic artistry compensating for underwritten characters, Meet Joe Black can't transcend its superficiality. The concluding "twist" offers the best example. Instead of proving that Susan really did find humanity and goodness in Death's dark soul, we only get final confirmation that she never really probed beneath his exterior...
...cherished fruit as a paean to corporate America. Everywhere you go, you are reminded that "Ameritech presents the National Cherry Festival." Pontiac, Pepsi, American Airlines and A.1 steak sauce have attached themselves to the blossom. More than a third of the festival's $2.2 million budget is underwritten by some 60 corporations. The truth is, the festival hasn't been about cherries in decades--something that locals tend to acknowledge only in hushed tones. Around here, it's almost sacrilegious to diss the festival. "Most people aren't really interested in learning about the cherry industry," concedes 50-year...
...airbrushed history written by the winners. Technology, which can so often implement violence or oppression, can also give a nobody a voice and play havoc with power's vertical divisions by making a gesture speak a thousand words. The entire Tiananmen uprising, in fact, was a subversion underwritten by machines, which obey no government and observe no borders: the protesters got around official restrictions by communicating with friends abroad via fax; they followed their own progress--unrecorded on Chinese TV--by watching themselves on foreigners' satellite sets in the Beijing Hotel; and in subsequent years they have used the Internet...
...Tower of Babel that is the casting means that the French King Louis and his brother both sound like mall rats from Anywheresville, U.S.A. D'Artagnan has an Irish brogue, and Aramis sounds prissily British. The language barrier is handled by giving the French actors either underwritten (Christine, Queen Anne) or buffoonish parts (Porthos). Depardieu does well enough with his one-dimensional role, chasing after the ladies and attempting to hang himself while naked in one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Parillaud, as Queen Anne, does passably well. Godreche, however, seems to have decided that she could just...
Analyzing Flubber is a futile venture. This is Disney at its mainpulative best. Characters and plausible storylines are stampeded in the onslaught of special effects. Williams stands agape as the Jello-like substance flies, morphs and dances its way all over the screen. The underwritten characters go down before the assualt of the translucent slime...