First time director Don Roos has created a fascinating, if a bit convoluted, narrative surrounding two very different people. The first we are introduced to is Dedee, a bratty and angry sixteen year old who has just lost her step-father. She runs away from home and into the arms of her half-brother, Bill (Martin Donovan), a teacher living with his boyfriend, Matt (Ivan Sergei). Dedee is pregnant but covers it up by seducing Matt into sleeping with her, stealing $10,000 from Bill, and running away to California. She also takes an urn with the ashes of Bill’s former lover, Tom, a man who died from complications surrounding AIDS, with the intention of using the ashes to get more money out of Bill. Tom’s sister, Lucia (Lisa Kudrow), has maintained a friendship with Bill and helps him track down Matt and Dedee, exposing that Dedee cannot possibly be pregnant from Matt, a fact that Dedee eventually admits to. Meanwhile, Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki), a gay student at the school Bill teaches at, refuses to believe Matt just took off and threatens to tell the police Bill molested him if Bill doesn’t produce Matt. When Bill is unable to do so, Jason goes through with his threat, putting Bill’s job and freedom at risk.
There is so much that could go wrong with this film that it’s surprising just how good it actually is. While complicated, the narrative is never hard to follow. This is partially because of a heavy use of voice-over, a crutch that never really feels like one here. Screenwriting 101 says to avoid voiceover but it works perfectly here. Christina Ricci narrates the whole film, even in scenes where she isn’t present, but she does so with a sarcastic wit that buoys each scene and adds a little dark humor to the proceedings. She also spells out the central message in that voiceover, how sex is a driving force but shouldn’t be as relationships are of far more value and have more longevity. Dedee will spend the majority of the film figuring this out, only to fully realize this as she walks away from her family and her newborn child.
Had Dedee been the main character of the film it would be too much for this story. Having her lead the first twenty minutes or so is more than enough before the film shifts narrative and focuses on Bill. This is smart as it gives us a bad taste in our mouth before cleansing it with the likable, if somewhat spineless Bill. Lucia provides the spine Bill lacks and the duo are able to take the narrative and run with it. These are well rounded characters, holding onto a shared pain. Both are deeply sad individuals, hurt by the loss of a loved one, and both will find a semblance of solace from their experiences with Dedee; solace that will come from different directions.
The biggest weakness off this film is the inclusion of Jason and his accusations of molestation. This storyline gets wrapped up too easily, resolved during a single bit of dialogue. Police investigations, the school dismissal, the court of public opinion; all of this gets a cursory mention and then just as easily dismissed. A later scene involving Dedee and another patsy she runs away with, Randy (William Lee Scott), ends just as abruptly but at least it is on screen and eased along by more of that humorous voiceover.
There is a lot to like about this film. Every one of the main cast grows in some sort of way. Perhaps the most surprising of these is Lucia who, bitter and distant with everyone, finally opens up and lets someone into her heart. Bill finds someone to love and care for that isn’t just there to fill the void left by Tom’s death. Even Dedee is changed a little in the final act, although she refuses to acknowledge this out loud. As she walks out of the film and the credits roll we know that, while she may not be happy with her life, she is a changed woman, more introspective. It’s not much of a change but the film is all the more honest by avoiding a major shift in her character. She is deeply flawed in the beginning and continues to be so at the end.
This film tackles some serious topics along the way, too. At times it could have taken an even harsher look at those topics, though. We get lip service to a Christian group using the molestation charges as an excuse to go after Bill and his job. However we never really see this and it’s resolved in a matter of seconds through dialogue. We also get a semblance of the persecution of homosexuals through the words of Jason when he makes the threat to lie about being molested. But we never see any of this persecution. It’s all just spoken about but never seen. It’s a shortcut to get the point across but would have been stronger had we gotten even one instance onscreen.
Nitpicks aside, this is a strong film that is bolstered by a strong performance by Christina Ricci. She takes an absolutely deplorable character and turns us around in the final reel. We hate her all the way till the end and then, with the help of that voiceover, we get just the slightest peak behind that facade and into the damaged girl beneath. We don’t forgive her for her actions but we feel sympathy for her. She tells us in those final words exactly what this film is about and brings it all back together. Without her Bill and Lucia would still be in dark places in their hearts. Dedee may be a bad person in-and-of-herself, but through her actions she has managed, unintentionally, to bring happiness to others, happiness she herself seems destined to never have.
Release Date: May 22, 1998
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, and Lisa Kudrow
Directed By: Don Roos
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