Cast: Josh Hamilton, Harold Perrineau, Isabel Gillies, John Fleck, Vanessa Ferlito, Eric Millegan, Liz Owens
Director: Jed Weintrob
Producers: Adam Brightman, Tanya Selvaratnam
Screenplay: Andrew Osborne, Jed Weintrob
Cinematography: Toshiaki Ozawa
Music: Roger Neill
U.S. Distributor: Indican Pictures
Ever since the Internet left the exclusive province of universities and research institutions and entered the average home, millions of words have been written about how the on-line revolution has changed the face of communication. Now, instead of meeting face-to-face, friends can sit in front of their computers and "chat" via instant messaging, with webcams allowing them to see one another. Electronic interaction has also made it possible for two people who have never met in the flesh to communicate in a forum where everything except touching is possible. Of course, there is a down side to this, as well - the possibility that we are fostering a generation of men and women who are so comfortable with on-line relations that they feel awkward in a real, intimate situation. That's precisely the issue that Jed Weintrob's underrated On_Line sets out to explore.
Weintrob is not the first director to unearth a story involving a group of characters who feel empowered only when sitting in front of a computer. But the statement he makes during the course of On_Line speaks more forcefully than that in any of the other, similar movies (many of which are little more than soft-core porn). Sure, On_Line contains its share of T&A, but it never seems gratuitous, and Weintrob successfully avoids an obvious pitfall: his movie does not consist solely of shots of people sitting at their computers typing messages to each other. He occasionally gets the characters out into the real world, and, by using odd camera angles and filters, emphasizes how much like a fish out of water they are when a keyboard is nowhere in sight.
Most importantly, On_Line does not judge. It merely observes. The ending is weak because it attempts to tie up all the loose ends into neat little packages. This is the kind of movie that cries out for a lack of resolution; by offering a conventional conclusion, Weintrob is in a way betraying the semi-documentary style he has adopted for much of the film. Reality is messy; the only disappointment with On_Line is that, when the end credits start rolling, we're not eager to spend more time with these characters. Their arcs have been used up. Their stories are done. What happens next is irrelevant. For the moment, they are living with a happily ever after illusion.
On_Line loosely follows six characters. John Roth (Josh Hamilton), the part-owner of a porn website called "InterconX," is obsessed with a webcam girl named Angel (Liz Owens), and would rather sit in front of the screen and watch her than meet a real woman. Eventually, he hooks up with Jordan (Vanessa Ferlito), one of the girls working for him. They have a hot mutual masturbation session via computer, but, when they meet in person, there's no spark. Meanwhile, John's roommate and co-owner, Moe (Harold Perrineau), has no problem with the ladies. He hooks up with Moira (Isabel Gillies), who is new to the porn scene, but a familiar face on suicide chat sites. One of her buddies from that on-line venue is Eric (Ed Simone), a young gay man from Ohio who has fallen for an InterconX employee named Al (John Fleck).
In the way it deals with issues of voyeurism and dysfunctional communication, On_Line reminded me of Steven Soderbergh's sex,lies, and videotape. Plot-wise, the two films are very different, but there are some fundamental thematic similarities. And, like sex,lies, On_Line features a cast comprised of recognizable faces, but no one who has reached "star" level. Indie regular Josh Hamilton (whose biggest pay day to date may have been as one of the leads in With Honors) has an unremarkable appearance and persona, and, as a result, he's a perfect choice to play John, a guy who's intended to be normal (albeit introverted). Harold Perrineau, recently seen in the two Matrix sequels, brings a sense of charisma and flair to the role of John's partner. Vanessa Ferlito, who has appeared in both "24" and "The Sopranos," radiates a potent sensuality. Two of the other actors, Isabel Gillies and Geoffrey Rush-lookalike John Fleck, have a fair number of titles on their respective resumes. This is the first outing for both Ed Simone and Liz Owens. Simone gives a credible performance, but it's tough to tell about Owens, since her character is only featured as a silent image on a computer screen.
When boiled down to its romantic and dramatic essentials, there's nothing special about On_Line. It’s a story of twenty-something angst, where people meet, split up because they're not right for one another, then connect with someone who's a better match. The essence of what's on screen isn't that different from what John Hughes was offering for a slightly younger crowd some 20 years ago. The Hughes formula has proved to be malleable, as is evident in the way Weintrob employs it here. But the real point of interest with this film lies in its use of a half-dozen characters to illustrate things about the Internet-obsessed pocket of our society. As computers become more prevalent, this segment of the population will grow. For the next generation, those who are not on-line will be regarded as abnormal, rather than the other way around. (17 years ago, when I first discovered the Internet, no one knew what I was talking about when I mentioned terms like "e-mail" and "newsgroups." Now, it's assumed that everyone knows the lingo.)
The stigma associated with those who do nearly all of their interpersonal interaction on-line is fading. Shut-ins are no longer shut-out. It's possible to do nearly everything using a computer, including falling in love and having a sexual experience. These are the elements On_Line concentrates upon, because they're the most titillating. But it would be foolish to dismiss this aspect of the film as merely pandering to a cadre of viewers looking for T&A. (The film is too talky for that group, anyway.) Weintrob has something he wants to say about living life on-line, and he believes this to be the most compelling way to present the message. If there's a moral, it's that risk and reward are both products of face-to-face interaction. Relationships begun on a computer only become real when the participants step away from the keyboard. But, in making this statement, Weintrob does not mock or condescend to those who are enmeshed in the web. And this is the reason why much of the film (the last ten minutes excepted) feels genuine. On_Line has its share of problems, but, on the whole, it piqued my curiosity and got me involved in the lives of the characters, which is more than enough reason to give it a recommendation. (As is often true of independent productions with small distributors, it played in very few theaters. Fortunately, it's not difficult to find on DVD.)
© 2004 James Berardinelli