Cast: Frank Langella, Rosanna Arquette, Andrew McCarthy, Elizabeth Perkins, Gina Gershon, Buck Henry, Salome Jens, Amanda Donohoe
Director: Bruce Wagner
Producers: Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
Screenplay: Bruce Wagner
Cinematography: Rob Sweeney
Music: Daniel Catan
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Films
I'm Losing You is the unpromising motion picture debut of writer-turned-director Bruce Wagner (whose resume includes the novel Force Majeure and the TV miniseries "Wild Palms"). The film is set in Los Angeles, where everyone seems to be dying and/or depressed. Hotshot TV producer Perry Krohn (Frank Langella) has moved into the terminal phase of inoperable lung cancer. He's involved in a cold marriage (the rift with his wife is the result of his numerous affairs), his daughter is mentally unstable, and his son is struggling to make ends meet and patch together a life that is falling apart. Two other characters - an older man and a young woman - are dying of AIDS, and, for good measure, a child is unexpectedly killed. This incident gives Wagner a chance to try out his skills at audience manipulation, which aren't very accomplished.
The film boasts a solid cast, including Andrew McCarthy, Frank Langella, Roseanna Arquette, Gina Gershon, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Perkins, and Amanda Donohoe, but all the talent is wasted. I'm Losing You is supposed to be a meditation on death, although it's unclear if there's anything more substantial going on than bad melodrama (the director seems to think that this is a profound movie; I found it to be laughably shallow). The film is about people dying suddenly, dying slowly, and living a dead life. Handled well, this could be potent material, but Wagner shows a shocking lack of ability when it comes to directing serious sequences. High drama becomes high camp. During a heated exchange between two characters, I found myself on the verge of laughing aloud.
Perhaps the most depressing thing about I'm Losing You is how many people in the audience viewed the movie as if it was a work of great art and insight, including Noah Cowan, the programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival who introduced the film with raves. Kudos to those who walked out. For my part, I got a small measure of satisfaction when, after blasting the film while talking to a friend, the woman in front of me turned around and thanked me for putting her opinion into words. When this pretentious twaddle gets a distributor (the cast alone guarantees that eventuality), avoid it. You'll thank me later.
© 1999 James Berardinelli