'She's So Lovely'
'Excess Baggage'
PHOTO BY B OB McEWAN
Rated R
en celebrated director/actor John
Cassavetes died, he left behind,
among other things, a son, a script
and a reputation for creating actor-
driven stories. In She's So Lovely, these
three things don't intersect as much as they
collide, with less than spectacular results.
This tale of compulsive love between gut-
ter dwellers stars Sean Penn, Robin Wright
Penn and John Travolta — with a bit part
played by Gena Rowlands, John Cas-
savetes' widow — and allows each of them
to act amok in a frenetic, disjointed emote-
athon. Taking full advantage of the op-
portunity are Penn and Penn, as Eddie and
Maureen, two boozy, eye-crossed lovers liv-
ing low on the hog near the outskirts of the
lunatic fringe. The first segment of the film
is devoted to showing how crazy in love they
are, with an emphasis on crazy.
As Eddie's incoherent ramblings and un-
predictable outbursts become disconcert-
ing, even to Maureen, she calls a mental
hospital, hoping they can provide a quick
fix for Eddie. Eddie has other ideas, and af-
ter shooting a hospital driver, spends the
better part of a decade "getting better."
W1
Alicia Silverstone stars in and co-produced
Excess Baggage.
Rated PG-13
S
ometimes previews do more harm
than good. Such is the case with Ex-
cess Baggage.
What looks like just another wit-
less teen-angst debacle is actually a
charmingly sympathetic comedy. It won't
win any Academy Awards, but it's sur-
prisingly entertaining.
Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) plays Em-
ily Hope, a teen-age girl who wants noth-
ing more than her wealthy father's love
and attention. To gain it, she stages her
own kidnapping, disguising her voice and
calling in ransom demands before hand-
cuffing and locking herself into the trunk
of her BMW.
Because this is the movies, profes-
sional car thief Vincent happens onto the
scene, stealing Emily's BMW with her
trapped inside. The only person who
cares enough to try and find her is "Un-
cle" Ray, her father's right-hand man, a
trained assassin who cares more for the
girl than her own parent does.
This improbable premise kicks off an
equally improbable series of events,
which incorporate enough twists and
turns to keep things interesting.
Co-produced by Silverstone, Excess
Baggage is a well-crafted movie which
could have been a superior one with just
a little fine tuning. As Emily, Silverstone
doesn't really pack a lot of punch — her
character drives the movie almost by de-
fault, carried by the script and not by the
actress.
Benicio Del Toro as Vincent, the ami-
able car thief, is alternately appealing
and aggravating, especially in the early
going. Entire gestures and facial ex-
pressions are stolen from the "James
Liz Lent is a local freelance writer.
Dean School of Emoting"; the only dif-
ference is that Dean did mumbling and
slouching well. When Del Toro finally
breaks out of that and opens up in his
scenes with Silverstone and Walken, he
becomes a warmly funny actor, a true in-
nocent caught in the midst of madness.
Walken, of course, steals every scene he's
in with his hilarious deadpan. And Harry
Connick Jr. is mildly amusing as Vin-
cent's car stealing cohort.
Excess Baggage plods along at an ex-
tremely relaxed pace. This is not an as-
set to the comedic scenes, which don't
always spark. If the writing and direct-
ing had been sharper and the acting a bit
more consistent, this truly could have
been a teen-comedy success story. In-
stead, it's just a pleasant flick with
potential.
Fast forward 10 years, and the story
finds Maureen bathed, groomed and sad-
dled in suburbia with new husband Joey
(John Travolta) and three children, one
of which is Eddie's. Everything seems to be
fine, except that Eddie is due to be released
imminently.
For reasons unexplained, Joey is deter-
mined to facilitate the demise of his fami-
ly: He invites Eddie into the home for
dinner and Maureen passively agrees, even
after she's told Joey that she will always
love Eddie more. Sure enough, Eddie soon
arrives in a shabby rustbucket, determined
not to leave without Maureen.
Certainly, the scenario is ripe for dra-
matic conflict, but the film is unable to cap-
ture any real angst or genuine tension. That
is not to say that there is no tension; only
that it feels forced and hurried. Much time
is devoted to building up the bond between
Eddie and Maureen, as unnatural and un-
believable as it may be, and too little is
spent deconstructing their predicament to
a satisfactory conclusion.
They say that love is blind and beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. That being the
case, She's So Lovely is best left for the truly
myopic.
Richard Haiprin is an attorney I film
critic.
.0 1/2
— Liz Lent
Opening Today:
Fire Down Below'
The newest Steven Seagal extravaganza (his 10th)
is an eco-thriller: Seagal (pictured, center) plays a
federal Environmental Protection Agency agent
who goes undercover to investigate a mining ty-
coon's dumping of lethal chemicals in the Blue-
grass hills of Kentucky, where the story is set. Also
starring Kris Kirstofferson and Marg Helgenberger,
bit appearances are made by Harry Dean Stanton,
Levon Helm, Randy Travis and Travis 'Frith
Robin Wright
Penn and Sean
Penn in Nick
Cassavetes'
She's So
Lovely.