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| Movie Name: |
Finding Amanda |
| Grade: |
B+ |
| Date Posted: |
7/22/08 |
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“Lost And Found Amanda”
Peter Tolan, creator of the raunchy TV series “Rescue Me” makes his feature directing debut with “Finding Amanda,” a dark comedy about addiction and familial bonds. With a breakout performance by Brittany Snow as a teen prostitute, and some bitterly ironic lines, “Finding Amanda” has some memorable droll moments.
Taylor Peters (Matthew Broderick) has returned to producing television comedy after a very public meltdown. Unfortunately, his new show stinks and Taylor can barely muster spending a full day at work. He regularly sneaks away and gambles at the horse track to the chagrin of his long suffering wife (Maura Tierney, “ER”). But a family emergency may be the salvation Taylor needs to get his life back on track. His 20-year-old niece, Amanda (Snow), has been hooking in Las Vegas. Her family wants to get her into rehab, and in order save his marriage, Taylor drives out to convince Amanda that she’s ruining her young life.
Sending Taylor to Vegas to save Amanda is like ssing a match to put out the Malibu fires. Taylor has no intentions of keeping his addiction in check. Not only has he stolen a check from his wife’s bank account before leaving, but before two days, he has fallen off the alcohol wagon after two years of sobriety and takes Ecstasy after years of being drug free. Taylor could not be a worse person to be a role model for lost Amanda.
Meanwhile, Amanda appears perfectly happy. She takes no drugs or alcohol. She has purchased a lovely home and car. She spends her money on a gorgeous boyfriend (Peter Facinelli), putting him through school, buying him a truck and treating him like a king. But despite this utopian haze, Amanda’s façade cracks every once in a while and we see a lonely girl with no self-esteem. She has a hideous boyfriend who sponges off her, Johns who use her, and no future. This is a remarkable girl, intelligent, witty and resourceful. When her uncle claims that she’s too good for her life, it’s no frivolous declaration. This girl is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Yet, she’s seeking guidance from a bigger travesty than herself, a 43 year old compulsive liar who has put horses before everyone he loves.
Writer/Director Tolan has written several multifaceted characters and they fit the actors perfectly. Broderick, puffy with age, and no longer appearing as an impish Ferris Bueller, gives the perfect example of a dried up shell. Watch his eyes as he feeds off the disastrous races, each one an inevitable loss for him. He expects a different result each time, but we know his luck will never change. Later, see how he stares amazed at his niece; just as a two-year-old child would be mesmerized by Barney the Dinosaur. She’s such a breath of energy into his dead life. She’s the white rabbit pushing his Alice through the looking glass. He came out to save her, but the converse is occurring.
Besides Broderick, we see Tierney as the loving wife at the end of her rope, sick of being lied to so cavalierly. British comedian Steve Coogan (“Hamlet 2”) represents every scummy Vegas host who treats high limit gamblers like princes but secretly reviles them.
But the film belongs to Snow. So bubbly, you’d think she’s a Game Show Hostess instead of a Vegas hooker, Snow is hilarious. She walks into her strip club and points to an Asian lady naked on the stage and exclaims, “She’s a kick a** Scrabble player.” She enters a drug den and acts like it’s a Cold Stone Creamery. But when even she can’t pretend about her life anymore, it’s heartbreaking to watch. When treated like a plaything by a drunken John her bottled up rage explodes. Deep inside, Amanda knows that no one respects her: not her boyfriend, not her Johns, not herself. She knows that her life is over and she’s already dead inside, the girl her uncle (not Taylor) raped repeatedly when she was a girl.
Tolan as a film director is weaker than he has been in episodic television. Four seasons of “Rescue Me” have been tight, furious comedy-dramas about firemen on the verge of nervous breakdowns. This film is a bit more rambling and it’s not very filmic. There are some nice visual touches though, like when Taylor slams down an Ecstasy pill on the sink counter and it wobbles out of control, just like his conviction.
Though the film as a whole isn’t as strong a work as you’d hope from Tolan, Snow’s performance shows remarkable depth from a girl who last headlined in the dreadful slasher film “Prom Night.” Expect her on the short list for critics’ awards and other end of year nominations. Grade: B+
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| Posted by: bouynxdor |
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