Cast: Heather Matarazzo, Michael Weston, Zach Braff, Bebe Neuwirth, Mark Blum, Bo Hopkins, Tristine Skyler, Sonja Sohn, Christopher Noth, Kevin Black, Mary McCormack, Jacob Reynolds, Leo Burmester
Director: Lisanne Skyler
Producers: Laura Gabbert, George LaVoo
Screenplay: Tristine Skyler & Lisanne Skyler
Cinematography: Jim Denault
Music: Michael Brook
Getting to Know You, Lisanne Skyler's debut feature, is the tale of two teenagers, Judith (Heather Matarazzo, the harried young heroine from Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse) and Jimmy (Michael Weston), who are drawn to each other because they're in search of a sympathetic ear. Neither has anyone to talk to, but both have a multitude of things to say. They meet at a bus station where Jimmy frequently hangs out and where Judith is waiting for a ride home. After a few awkward attempts at conversing, they begin telling each other things about themselves and making up histories for other men and women in the station. And, as they spin their narratives, the stories come to life in front of the camera.
Getting to Know You is an affecting, although unspectacular, drama that features a scene-stealing performance by Matarazzo, who proves that her work in Dollhouse was no fluke. She is supported by an able cast that includes Zach Braff as Judith's protective brother, Bebe Neuwirth and Mark Blum as her parents, and Bo Hopkins as a kind-hearted police officer with a skeleton in his closet. The script (by Skyler's sister, Tristine, who also has an acting part in the film) weaves three Joyce Carol Oates stories into an original framework and provides a view of life that is sometimes darkly funny and sometimes just dark. The transitions between the trio of tales told by Jimmy and Judith (about a high-stakes gambler in a skid, a contentious father/son/stepmother relationship that leads to a bloody resolution, and a mother and father who resent their children) are handled fluidly. The most impressive aspect of the film, however, is how Judith and Jimmy subtly reveal aspects of their personalities, fears, and family histories in the way they slant the stories they tell. This is the kind of approach that could easily have come across as heavy-handed and clunky, but Skyler handles it with deft skill. As a result, instead of being drowned in melodrama, we come to care about the characters and their situations.
© 1999 James Berardinelli