Cast: James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner
Director: Larry Clark
Producers: Stephen Chin, Larry Clark, James Woods
Screenplay: Christopher Landon and Stephen Chin, based on the book by Eddie Little
Cinematography: Eric Edwards
U.S. Distributor: Trimark Pictures
The ironically-titled Another Day in Paradise can best be described as a "feel bad" movie. The director's intent is to leave audience members drained and shaken by the bitter content. However, while films like Happiness and The Celebration readily accomplish that aim, Another Day in Paradise falls short. The movie doesn't have much of an impact, and therefore fails to haunt viewers on their trips home from the theater. It aims to be powerful and gritty, but merely succeeds in being dreary and grungy.
Bobby (Vincent Kartheiser) is a teenage thief whose idea of a big score is emptying the coins out of a cigarette vending machine. When he gets caught in the action and is brutally beaten by a security guard, his girlfriend, Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner), is forced to call in medical help. Enter "Uncle" Mel (James Woods), who arrives with advice and drugs to dull the pain. Later, after Bobby has recovered, he and Rosie join Mel and his girlfriend/partner, Sid (Melanie Griffith), in a life of crime. When Mel asks Bobby if he's ready "to graduate from the world of screwdrivers and vending machines to some really serious larceny," the budding criminal can't refuse the lure of big money. At first, everything is great, with Mel and Sid acting like parents to their youthful friends, but, after a drug deal goes bad, the relationship becomes strained.
The audacity evident in Larry Clark's debut feature, Kids, is absent here. With the exception of one raunchy sex scene (which features actor Vincent Kartheiser nibbling on Natasha Gregson Wagner's nipples), Clark's direction is tame. He's clearly emulating early Scorsese (it's impossible to miss the Mean Streets influence), but, since he's about the umpteenth film maker to do this, the style comes across as tired and derivative. The same can be said about the material. There's nothing inherently new in the surrogate father/son relationship between the older, experienced Mel and the younger, impressionable Bobby, and Clark doesn't do much to invigorate it. One needn't look any farther than Robert De Niro's A Bronx Tale to see what can be accomplished with similar themes.
The performances are variable. Vincent Kartheiser (who was dreadful in the 1997 Bottom 10 candidate, Masterminds) and Natasha Gregson Wagner (recently in the opening sequence of Urban Legend and most of Two Girls and a Guy) are credible, although Gregson is the more compelling of the two. Unfortunately, Clark either indulges or encourages James Woods' natural impulse to go over-the-top, resulting in a startlingly uneven portrayal from the veteran actor. There's one excruciating scene when Woods is bouncing up and down in the back seat of a car, flailing his arms and shouting. Then there's Melanie Griffith, whose role as crime-girl Sid is outside of her microscopic range. Griffith's squeaky voice and unconvincing acting occasionally endangers the audience's ability to take this movie seriously.
Another Day in Paradise's tone is relentlessly downbeat. Not only is nearly every scene filmed in dimly-lit conditions, but frequent use is made of hand-held shots (to emphasize chaos) and grainy film stock (to give a low-budget, documentary-like feel). With the exception of a great one-liner ("I need an enema"), there's virtually no intentional comic relief throughout, although Woods' inappropriate scenery-chewing offers occasional moments of laughter. Overall, Another Day in Paradise feels like just one more movie about drug deals, street violence, and the strange ties that bind low-level criminals together. Clark's unpolished style lends the film an edgy quality, and there's enough energy to keep most viewers involved for the duration (at least those who aren't scared off by the bloodshed), but sketchy character development and a recycled plot limit the movie's overall effectiveness.
© 1999 James Berardinelli