'Kansas City'
Rated R
p
icture this: It's the ear-
ly 1930s in Kansas City,
Mo. The heyday of mob-
sters and molls, racism
and segregation, but above
all —jazz.
Robert Altman — who in
his illustrious career
has directed to near-
perfection such gems
as M*A*S*H*, Mc-
Leigh's Blondie could be any
one of the hard-knocked women
she has portrayed of late, and
although many of those perfor-
mances have relished well-
earned raves, this one is
distinguished only by bad teeth
and a few facial twitches.
Miranda Richardson, whose
performances in both Damage
and The Crying Game earned
her nominations for several
international awards, trans-
forms an entire characterization
with one momentary, searing
glance. Unfortunately, Altman
makes the audience wait until
the end of the film to give
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Cabe and Mrs. Miller,
The Player and Short
Cuts — now revisits
'Tin Cup'
Rated R
shown a knack for making sports
movies that can be enjoyed by
f you asked Roy "Tin Cup" people who aren't sports fans,
McAvoy (Kevin Costner) why and he turns the trick again here.
he is such an underachiever, Amidst the tournaments and
he probably wouldn't mention testosterone is a comic love sto-
things like immaturity, reck- ry and some ruminations on re-
lessness or obstinateness. No, peating one's mistakes ad
he'd be more likely to refer to his infinitum. After roles in bloated
lack of success in poetic terms, epics like Robin Hood and Wa-
blaming demons for leading him terworld, Tin Cup allows Cost-
astray.
ner an opportunity to come back
Early on in the Warner Bros. down to earth where he is most
film Tin Cup, we learn that Roy effective. Remember Bull
really could have been
Durham and Field of
somebody, but while
Dreams? Costner is
his college golf partner Life is a g olf game for once again in his ele-
Don John son, center,
David Sims (Don John- and Kevin Costner, who ment playing a regu-
son) went on to star-
lar guy trying to right
are riva Is for the
dom on the PGA tour, affection of Rene Russo, past wrongs. Russo
Roy finds himself run-
showed glimpses of
left, in Tin Cup.
ning a fleabag driving
her comedic flair in
range in the. middle of
Get Shorty and pros-
nowhere, all because he couldn't pers in a more expansive role as
say no to a challenge.
Costner's love interest and emo-
He was a sucker for every bet, tional caddie.
a devil for every dare. Now, all
Some people claim that golf is
he has left is a following of locals a pointless game. You hit the ball,
who admire his ability to whack you catch up with it and you hit
a golf ball and a friend, Romeo it again. If that's true, then Tin
(Cheech Marin), who sticks by Cup is a lot like golf. It may be
his side in of spite the steady pointless, but if you don't take
stream of rationalizations.
it too seriously, it's a pretty good
Roy finally thinks he's found way to kill a couple of hours.
the right thing to purge those
demons when he meets Molly
Q4k)
.
Griswold (Rene Russo), a long-
legged psychologist who signs up
for golf lessons. He's immediate-
— Richard Halprin
ly drawn to her elegance and wit
but really falls for her after dis-
covering that she is the girlfriend
of his old nemesis, Sims. Oh boy,
another challenge.
So, how can he compete with
Outstanding
the well-groomed, wealthy golf
pro? Roy figures the easiest way
Very Good
to do it is to win the U.S. Open.
Tin Cup was written and di-
Good
rected by Ron Shelton, who also
directed Bull Durham and White
Fair
Men Can't Jump. Shelton has
I
Bagel Barometer
the Kansas City of his
childhood, and unfortu-
nately, has a difficult time
channeling his childhood's
now-fuzzy images and
ideals into a viewer-friend-
ly involvement with his
newest release, Kansas
City.
Blondie O'Hara (Jen-
nifer Jason Leigh, whom
Altman also directed in
Short Cuts) has a scheme
to recover her small-time
thief husband Johnny
(Dermot Mulroney) from
the hands of big-time gang-
ster and club-owner Sel-
dom Seen (Harry
Belafonte). To do this,
Blondie has taken as
hostage Carolyn Stilton
(Miranda Richardson), the
laudanum-addicted wife of
an adviser to President
Roosevelt.
Blondie has tried to es-
cape the realities of her un-
fortunate life through the
movies: Emulating the
"moves" of her screen idol
Jean Harlow (a Kansas
City native), she takes on
the role of heroine "done
wrong' to rescue her other
obsession: her husband.
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