JACKIE BROWN (1997)

Dir: Quentin Tarantino

Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, Bridget Fonda

The reviews were good. The pedigree was good. Elmore Leonard's good.

The film's a dog.

My companion and I are both fans of Tarantino, Leonard and at least 60% of Jackie Brown's featured players. It was with a sense of anticipation that we set off on a cold, damp Saturday to take in the Wunderkind's latest contribution to the history of cinema in the 90s.

To say we were disappointed is an understatement.

You probably know the plot. Stewardess (can we use that word?) Jackie Brown (Grier) runs money up from Mexico for gun-runner Ordell (Jackson). She's busted by the ATF (Keaton) and cuts a deal. How will Jackie and her would-be beau (Foster) scam both Ordell and the cops to escape with the bucks?

In other words, a typical Elmore Leonard plot (it's based on Rum Punch). Leonard writes sizzling dialogue, which largely removes the need for exposition of motivation and background.

So why did the Boy Wonder feel the need to tinker with the plot and dialogue? In so doing, he has introduced unnecessary and incomprehensible obfuscations of plot and character.

The film feels half-finished. Unlike LA Confidential, there is no layer beneath the one you see. It's pure WYSIWYG. As such, it's like a Chinese meal which goes on for too long - you want it to finish, but when you get home, you feel dissatisfied.

The characters are cardboard. They lack motivation. There is no coherent explanation as to why or how Max Cherry (Foster), Jackie's bondsman, falls for her. Louis (De Niro), an old gaol buddy of Ordell's who needs a paying gig, spends most of the film sitting around Ordell's apartment loking bored.

We didn't get the impression that he was acting. Not even Method.

Bridget Fonda, as Mel, one of Ordell's girlfriends, is largely superfluous - tho' I suppose Louis has to kill someone. And Jackson must now hold some kind of record for the use of the word "niggah" in Tarantino movies.

He should be careful - he's gonna get typecast.

This film sags. Both my companion and I found ourselves wondering where to eat during the almost interminable middle section of the film. And we didn't really care what happened to anyone.

All in all, a disappointment. We were glad we went to a matinee and only paid $4.50.

Read the book. It'll take you about the same length of time. And you'll feel much better afterwards.

JOHN BLOWER
29 December 1997

(c)1997 FeNiX