Review

Review Date: 24-November-02
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Roger Dodger (2002)

A couple of reviewers have put Dylan Kidd's "Roger Dodger" in a family with "Tadpole" and "Igby Goes Down" because of the similar theme of youth running up against the darker sides of adulthood in New York City, but it seems to me that the movie is more aptly compared with this spring's "About a Boy," in which Hugh Grant played a shallow thirtysomething whose life is changed by contact with a kid. Mind you, "Roger Dodger" is much darker than "About a Boy," and its eponymous protagonist is not so much shallow as bitter, despondent, and deeply confused. But both movies show the power of innocence to awaken something in the cynic's breast.

The unusually talkative film stars Campbell Scott as Roger, an intelligent wordsmith who has decided to blame his feelings of frustration, loneliness, and futility on gender and sex. He is given full rein to expostulate his theories on biology and conquest when his teenaged nephew (Jesse Eisenberg) shows up unexpectedly and asks to be taught how to hook up with women. The two head out for a night on the town, picking up Jennifer Beals (yes, that Jennifer Beals) and Elizabeth Berkley at a bar and crashing the party of Roger's boss and former lover (Isabella Rossellini), before hitting rock bottom in the "dating" scene in a last, desperate attempt.

"Roger Dodger" is shot using a jittery, hand-held camera style which, though not overdone, made me extremely motion sick; in addition, a couple of scenes struck me as a tad ludicrous (why would the women think that a 16-year-old being a virgin is "hot?"). Still, due mostly to the excellent performances and real chemistry of Scott and Eisenberg, it's a film that impresses by being the product of both mind and heart.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.