There's talent and skill, but 'Roger Dodger' ultimately annoys
Sometimes, a movie can boil down to whether or not you can stand to be in the same room with someone for two hours. "Roger Dodger," a skillfully made but ultimately annoying drama from first-timer Dylan Kidd, features at its center a soulless advertising executive named Roger (smooth-voiced Campbell Scott) who has some issues with women. He's a fast-talking misogynist in a sleekly fitted suit who takes pleasure in reducing women to sexual stereotypes, yada yada yada. We've all met this guy before — in the movies or out of them — and he's already overstayed his welcome.
That Roger's women issues turn out to be father issues, and that he ultimately redeems himself (sort of), and that Isabella Rossellini shows up, isn't enough. Nor is Kidd's flashy, in-your-face camera work or the film's intriguing use of light. Roger's world is a flatteringly amber-lit New York — except when he descends into low-rent bars, which are lit so dimly the characters seem to be swimming through murky water.
The presence of Jennifer ("Flashdance") Beals and Elizabeth ("Showgirls") Berkley, as a pair of women Roger and his nephew Nick pick up in a bar, feels like stunt casting, and not very nice stunt casting at that. Perhaps Kidd is making a comment on the kind of movies that objectify women, just as Roger does. But why are they drenched in pond-like lip gloss and extra-shiny eyeshadow? (And does anyone really remember "Flashdance," except that scene where Beals took off her bra without removing her sweatshirt?)
Kidd clearly has talent — his dialogue zings along, and he's good with the actors — and perhaps his second film will showcase him better. And there's another bright light here: Jesse Eisenberg, the teen actor who plays Roger's nephew, gives a quietly confident, sincere performance in the movie's least showy role. Mostly he just listens, looking very young and very troubled; when "Roger Dodger" tires, it's a lovely rest just to watch him.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com.
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