8
Thursday, September 28, 2000
Melodramatic 'Tic Code'
Bland, Boring to Watch
The wife of a jazz musician
with Tourette's syndrome
wrote and stars in this
exploration of the affliction.
By Jeremy Hertz
Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
Polly Draper, writer and star of “The
Tic Code," obviously has noble inten
tions. The audience would like to sym
pathize with her well-meant tale of unity
through adversity. If only the movie
weren’t so very, very bad.
Draper plays the divorced mother of
a 12-year-old boy with Tourette’s syn-
drome. Her son
Miles (Christopher
George
Marquette), a gift
ed pianist, is crip
pled not so much
.Tnov/ey
review/
“The Tk Code"
★l/2
by his disorder but by his embarrass
ment about it.
Miles feels like his father abandoned
his mother over his Tourette’s syn
drome, and frankly, he’s right.
In steps saxophonist Tyrone
(Gregory Hines), who also has
Tourette’s but won’t even discuss it with
anyone but Miles - they speak the same
“code." Miles’ mom falls in love with
Tyrone, but the musician can’t believe
she’s interested in him except as a father
for Miles.
This leads to conflict, most of which
is absurdly melodramatic and
telegraphed far ahead of time. The
movie’s climax should be predictable a
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full hour early to anyone familiar with
the film technique of the foreshadowing
close shot
Draper does strike a suitably forlorn,
exhausted tone with her performance.
Unfortunately, her sentimental script
hits nothing but wrong notes.
The story isn’t quite autobiographi
cal, but Draper has a definite connec
tion to the material. She’s married to
jazz musician Michael Wolff, who com
posed music from the film and who has
Tourette’s. As one might expect, her
film doesn’t seem dishonest or manip
ulative. But honesty alone can’t make a
film interesting.
No character in the movie ever
breaks free from his or her own stereo
type. Their relationships are transparent
and the dialogue is often forced.
Gary Winick’s direction is equally
bland. To indicate Miles’ fragmented
state of mind when a particularly bad
attack hits, he switches from color film
to jumpy black-and-white -a tired gim
mick that doesn’t work here.
“The Tic Code” played at this year’s
Berlin International Film Festival. It did
n’t win, as the film’s official Web site
claims, the prize for Best Picture -
rather, it received the Glass Bear, an
award voted on by a child jury for the
best film at the festival’s Children’s Film
FesL
Perhaps the juvenile motivations and
Marquette’s charismatic performance
would appeal to children, who might
not be bored by the overdrawn conflicts
of stock characters. But I can’t believe
the average child’s attention would be
held through aimless scenes with lan
■ guid dialogue. Mine wasn’t.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor
can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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DIVERSIONS
'Urban Legend' Takes Slasher Films to a New Low 1
By Justin Winters
Staff Writer
With a handy thesaurus, one might
find many serviceable synonyms for the
word bad: abhorrent, base, beastly,
blameworthy, corrupt, criminal, etc.
If there is any justice in this world,
Webster will add “teenage slasher film”
to collectively
group dreadful
wastes of time like
“Urban Legends:
Final Cut” in the
same category,
“Legends,” the
,
rey/ew
"Urban Legends:
Final Cut"
★ 1/2
sequel to the ironically also unpleasant
1998 film “Urban Legend,” gets a nice
start at the gun only to falter like an
Olympic runner who pulls a “hammy”
soon after.
For those who even care, “Legends”
revolves around a group of shallow film
students who have wisely decided to
take a stab at filming a thesis project
starring a serial killer who disposes of
his victims by using oft-forgotten and
lame urban legends.
Director John Ottman, who bypassed
composing the score for “X-Men” to
Tepid 'Woman On Top' Showcases Cruz, Not Much More
By Allison Rost
Staff Writer
You’d think a movie titled “Woman
On Top” would push some limits.
Instead, this tepid “romantic” come
dy exists only to
showcase the
physical attributes
of Spanish movie
star Penelope
Cruz.
, .^mov/eyr
je/iew
"Woman On Top”
★
Isabella (Cruz) is a gifted Brazilian
standing
4. to do
with
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direct this film, should be forced to
watch “Legends" consecutively for days
and days, without food or water, until he
realizes the extent of his blunder. Shame
on him for letting such a tainted script
infect an otherwise promising idea for a
scary movie.
His actors seem at times to be reciting
such moronic dialogue that they can’t
believe their own words, and the deci
sion to use a fencing mask as a killer’s
costume kept me guessing when the rest
of the team would show up.
Even the requisite carnage looks like
something straight off the $1 rental shelf
of the video store. Note to John: causing
more laughter than the intentionally
funny “Scary Movie” is not a good
thing.
Visually, Ottman does have a few,
and very few, good things going for him.
His decision to use different camera
styles and his set up of one chase scene
in particular do carry some merit that
contrasts wildly with every other scene,
particularly those involving actors talk
ing.
Does it really matter who starred in
the film? Loretta Devine, who is the
only repeat from the original film, and
chef who discovers her husband is
cheating and takes off for San Francisco
to test the culinary waters there.
She can’t find a job at a restaurant,
but gets discovered by a local television
producer (Mark Feuerstein) who gives
her a cooking show and falls in love
with her.
However, Isabella still pines for her
husband, and her cooking is suffering as
a result. He follows her to San Francisco,
and she has to decide if she should swal
low her pride and take him back.
JoAAb ft * ML B JrjßL
f. H ’m\y ■ - JB
A not-so-scary killer chases Vanessa (Eva Mendes, left) and Amy
(Jennifer Morrison) to the top of a clock tower in "Urban Legends II."
Joseph “Whoa” Lawrence of old-school
“Blossom” fame are the only recogniz
able faces. To protect the others, maybe
it is best to just forget the fact that they
ever took part in the film.
Then they won’t be faced with their
The title stems from Isabella’s motion
sickness - an affliction that requires she
always be the driver in a car, lead on the
dance floor, and ... you get the picture.
This motion sickness is supposedly
what drives her husband to stray, and
whenever he’s on-screen after that, he’s
portrayed as a complete pig.
At the same time, the kindhearted
television producer is willing to do any
thing for Isabella.
Therefore, it’s highly disappointing
when their roles suddenly reverse three
quarters of the way through the movie,
and the guy you were rooting for sud
denly becomes the jerk.
Much of the movie is this way - com
pletely confusing. It’s presented as a
fairy tale, with Isabella receiving her
cooking talent from an ocean goddess as
a child. The film’s mysticism comes
across as stupid and inane.
Throngs of men follow Isabella
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memories of “Legends” and how sub
standard, unsatisfactory, useless and vile.,
it really was.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
through the streets of San Francisco
because of her gift, and smells of her
dishes inspire everyone to get it on right
then and there.
Differences between the United
States and Brazil are hinted at but never
create a coherent theme. With bad jokes
and obviously dubbed-over lines, it all
creates this jumbled mess.
Cruz does indeed light up the screen
and shows a lot of promise, but here
she’s given very little of interest to do.
Harold Perrineau Jr. turns in a decent
performance as Isabella’s drag-queen
friend Monica. Unfortunately, many of
his lines fall horribly flat.
Besides that, the only good thing
about “Woman On Top” are the sweep
ing visuals of San Francisco. Now there’s
something to fantasize about.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.