Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 30-December-07
Spoiler Rating: High

Frequency (2000)

Let's say you are a (non-striking) screenwriter desperate to make your name. You have two options: 1) shoot for something artistic which dazzles critics and makes a pass at Oscar, or 2) pander to the people's guts and traditions and angle for big box office. Let's say you pick option two for whatever reason, and that inspiration and desperation take equal control of your mind. This is what you concoct:

In the waning days of the 20th century, a handsome police officer named John Sullivan is hitting hard times. His wife is leaving because he cannot mature, and he cannot mature because he grew up without a father (Frank Sullivan, a handsome firefighter, died when John was six years old). One night the aurora borealis appear with remarkable brilliance and John's best buddy fires up Frank's old ham radio. Due to "the mother sunspot of all time," John finds himself talking with Frank in the same room of the same house 30 years before. Once they realize they are communicating across time, they begin to change history beginning with Frank's death. But changing one thing alters everything else, and they inadvertently put John's mother, a pretty nurse, in the way of a serial killer. Father and son (and their black family friend) must strive to stop the killer in both 1969 and 1999, using their courage, love of baseball, and supernatural connection as tools. After a nail-biting showdown, John saves his mother, retrieves his father and a trove of memories from the past, and acquires better furniture and a happy home. Plus there's a Dalmatian puppy and a scene where the dad teaches his "Little Chief" how to ride a bike.

What red-blooded American wouldn't lap that up?

Call me red-faced more than red-blooded: I cannot resist this tale. While regarding "Frequency" as the most preposterous hooey imaginable, I admit that it is enjoyable without understanding why. Perhaps its greeting-card fantasticalness is mitigated by Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid, two manly yet sensitive actors who can pull off the World Series-fueled bonding shtick. Then again, a time-warpy, change-the-past story often hits the spot, especially when good folks are involved who deserve better than what they got (and one monster is involved who deserves worse). Certainly the Sullivans' beautiful house works some magic, suggesting the familial comfort that can be passed down through generations. Whatever the reasons, "Frequency" transmits the right signals. Incidentally, screenwriter Toby Emmerich got his hit but works mostly on the executive side of the business. Maybe he knew that, like other phenomena, the successful use of cliché is rare.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.