Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 19, 1992, edition 1 / Page 17
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
mmmmmmmmmmm Page 8 DTH Omnibus Thursday March 19, 1992 Msh movie a must only for accent-lovers Mara Lee Hear My Sons Ned Bealty, Adrian Dunbar, Tara Fitzgerald and James Nesbitt directed by Peter Chelsom Chelsea 929-8428 12 The most hip thing about this movie was the music playing before the show. Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes" replaced the usual muzak for the au dience about two dozen members of the over-60 crowd. That should've been a sign of how the movie would be. "Hear My Song" seemed to be set in London of the mid-'60s, as women with bouffant hairdos rode in '50s cars and went out to hear Frank Sinatra clones. But it wasn't. By the chronology of the movie, the time was 1983. 1 hate that. But never mind. The movie is ba sically a love story, with a young Irish concert promoter, Micky O'Neill (Adrian Dunbar), trying to win back his fiancee, Nancy Doyle (Tara Fitzgerald), who left htm because he couldn't say the "L" word. One of the better lines comes from this scene where Nancy professes her love in the heat of passion, and he replies, "Vice versa." She leaps out of b I, SHADOWS AND FOG Woody Allek Kathy Bates John Cusack Mm Finn Jodie Foster Pied Gwykne Julie Kavher Madonna John Malkovich Kenneth Mais (ate h elligan donald pleasence lily tomlin woody alle h mm in A SPECIAL L... ,J ?e-srs' 7or0rf0w I I5M! MICHAIL DD pa RAM IES23.. UllUlU muimu Mia A All UJJinijJUij mm -TOMORROW 7:00 PM TTk king of the rink it about RAID The ultimate kmskate relationship ins uxx or rn Ma s isuxsa ihzkk.oi o taasrj m m m lm am ar.i.-.. p.... bed, yelling" Vice versa?!" as she puts on her clothes, and runs down the stairs. He shouts after her, "Munchkin?! Plum-plum?! ... Balls!" Micky's bookings for his club go downhill until he's reduced to show ing "Franc Cinatra," and the large Ryan family who owns the building decides to give him the boot. The Ryan dowagers look at him unbelievingly as Micky gives his schpiel about being born in peace time. He says, "There are those who find a kind of giving in their taking..." and the prim ladies begin a string of "Bullshit." He manages to finagle one more chance to save his club and decides to bring back Josef Locke, an Irish tenor who hasn't sung for 25 years. Locke is a fugitive in Ireland because of tax evasion charges. But Micky discovers he's paid over a thousand pounds a week for a fake when a Wile E Coyote-type tax in spector comes to arrest the singer, but decides he's a poseur. The fake Jo (William Hootkins) fools the crowd , of whom Micky crows, There won't be a dry seat in the house." He doesn't fool Nancy's mother, "Miss Dairy Goodness" of 1958, who once had an affair with Locke. She finds out you can never go home again when she comes back TRJJ SUEAK PREVIEW to meet America'! ioe quern. KfftilllllJW & -fiEa, aT-w, . .. : Adrian Dunbar (1) from their tryst mauled and crying and exposes the singer and promoter as frauds. Someone punches Micky in the eye. (I've got to keep some secrets.) Micky loses his club, stows away to Ireland to find the real Jo Locke (Ned Beatty) and asks for help from his old friend in Dublin, Fintan O'Donnell (James Nesbitt). Fin wants to say no, but Micky, with his one eye pleading, is irresist ible. In a delightful Irish accent that makes it sound not even like cussing fin says , "Fuck me, Micky, no way." And the next thing you see is the two on the road. Lots of slapstick-y jokes like that one make up the bulk of the movie. Here's 99 Article 99 Kiefer Sutherland, Ray Liotta, Keith David directed by Howard Deutch Ram Triple 967-8284 jrt rricIe99issetinaVAhospi 111 ta' that resembles hell. Peter 0 Morgan (Kiefer Sutherland ) f 1 arr'ves new doctor and 'must learn to adjust to a sys tem that has learned to work around the rules and deal with the massive budget cuts. Dr. Sturgess (Ray Liotta) is the hospital "bad boy," leading the other doctors in revolt against the penny-pinching administration. Mor gan and Sturgess, along with fellow doctor Handleman (Forest Whitaker) and Bobrick (John C. McGinley), perform unauthorized operations and constantly transfer patients to different wards to avoid and James Nesbitt In Peter Chelsom's Dead car batteries, accidental bid' ding at an auction, people passing out, people burning themselves, throwing cows down wells and the like. But Micky's such a lovable rogue, with his Irish accent, his crinkly eyes, his bad teeth and his bald-faced lies that he saves it from the insipidness of most movies with those gags. As Micky and Fin lead the cow they never meant to buy through the gor geous Irish countryside, Micky quips, "Thank Christ we're not vegetarians." The repartee between the two is very believable. Fin advises, "You could do worse than tell him (Locke) the truth. That would be something, wouldn't it." reasons to Mike Long having them discharged. The doctors must resort to stealing supplies to practice medicine. As the cuts get more severe, the doctors become in subordinate and i showdown is set between the doctors determined to help humanity and the administra tors determined to save a buck. The main problem with the film is it can't decide whether it wants to be a preachy drama or a comedy. There are some funny moments, but most of the movie consists of scenes where the message is being crammed down the throats of viewers who really can't do much about the problem. The blame goes to writer Ron Cut ler. His preachy, smarmy script might have been better in the hands of a director used to doing drama. Article 99 was directed by Howard Deutch, who also directed Pretty in Pink. Ev 'Hear My Song' And as Micky leaves Ireland, wav ing goodbye jauntily, he yelb, "What did I ever do for you?" Fin yells back, laughing, "Nothing! But it doesn't matter!" The ending has the usual sappy reunion, saved-in-the-nick-of-time triumph and a slightly unusual good guy escape. All in all, it's not a bad movie, and I must admit I had been spoiled by seeing two intense movies at the Union, "Europa Europa" and "Jungle Fever" in the last two days. But if you're as broke as I am, you don't really want to pay much for a mellow, feel-good, predictable movie, even if it does have great Irish accents. miss this eryone must have their first foray into drama, but this veteran of teen love stories was not the best choice. Despite how disappointing the movie is, it has a great cast. Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) is impressive as the wild, yet admirable young doctor. Kiefer Sutherland, as the rich and spoiled doctor who has his eyes opened by the harsh realities of the hospital, seems to be playing himself. Forest Whitaker is strong but useless in his small role. Article 99 is destined to become one of those films cursed to video obscurity. Video is perfect for it I wish that I could have had fast-forwarded through the whole thing. E wait for the vidss . i99 go te the dollar theater :; only pay matinee price : I pay fell price I take year sister, toe
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 19, 1992, edition 1
17
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75