YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO DOWNTOWN
TO GET
HE ZIP
hoping that Steve Martin
would break free of
Mamet's finishing school
and do something silly,
perhaps asking Rebecca
Pidgeon if she is related
to the Pigeon sisters in
The Odd Couple. Rated
PG.
4xx:x
"The Spanish Prisoner"
opens today, exclusive-
ly at the Main Art
Mamet directed with prim, pedan-
tic control, and Gabriel Beristain's
photography is as crisp as the conver-
sation (still, couldn't anyone say,
• "What did it ever do for ya?" instead
of "What did it ever do for one?" The
dialogue seems made to be dia-
"Prosperity built on a house of cards."
grammed for your least favorite Eng-
That's
how filmmaker Michael Moore
lish teacher — pardon me, one's least
(Roger
& Me) described our "boom-
favorite).
ing"
economy
at a question-and-
There is some layering of tension, if
answer session at the Sunday premiere
not quite suspense — we realize that
of his latest film, The Big One (PG-
Mamet is far more enchanted by his
13), at Royal Oak's Main Art Theatre.
clever manipulations than by the effect
Moore thanked Miramax for its
• of the manipulations, which is a
support
of the film, which will
reverse of Hitchcock).
attempt
to do business in metro
The movie asks us to be dumbly
Detroit
without
any publicity in the
hypnotized by his cleverness — like
Detroit
News
or
Free
Press. The pre-
Joe, who does many foolish things
miere was a benefit for the Strikers
(having been told he's a nice chump,
Relief Fund.
he keeps validating the demeaning
compliment). Here is a man who
spends his working life gazing at
intricately demanding formulae on
paper and blackboards, but falls for
a sleight-of-eye trick involving the
club membership form.
And when he visits his friend,
Lang (Ricky Jay, the Mamet pal
and card-magic wizard), Joe bum-
bles into-a murder scene so reck-
lessly and incriminatingly that he
graduates from being an absent-
• minded genius. He's a doofus,
Nike C.E.O. Phil Knight with Michael
• more hapless than Robert Cum-
Moore in "The Big One."
mings in Hitchcock's Saboteur.
The film traces Moore's cross-coun-
Although Mamet is generally con-
try odyssey is search of an answer to
sidered a big gift to theater — I defer
his question: "At a time when corpora-
to other pundits on that — his contri-
tions are posting record profits, why
bution to movies is eccentric. I liked a
are
so many working Americans still
lot his first film as director-writer,
in
danger
of losing their jobs?"
House of Games, but the rest are smug
A
documentary,
The Big One is
contraptions, self-enamored parlor
both wickedly funny and seriously
• games rescued from tedium by good
thought-provoking. "Kids are getting
/- casting (as in Woody Allen's films, the
out of college and finding jobs that
actors seem to be in a spell of grati-
pay $6 an hour," said Moore. "They'll
tude to Mamet for using them — as if
be the ones to change things.'"
he were a new Orson Welles or
Bertold Brecht).
Gail Zimmerman
Though not an ordeal like Mamet's
Oleanna, The Spanish Prisoner (the
The Big One opens today, exclu-
title is explained in the film) is a slot
sively at the Main Art Theatre.
machine of diminishing returns. I kept
Recommended:
The Big One
—
• Italian-American Favorites
• Pasta Specialties
• Variety of Chicken dishes
• Pizza
• Filets Mignon
• Chops
• Seafood
• Cocktails
Ferndale's Favorite Since 1961
Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 2 an.
Friday 11 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.
www. Como'sPizza. corn
Saturday 12 noon to 3:30 a.m.
Sunday 12 noon to 2 am.
Woodward at 9 Mile
t)' Il t-7
Family Operated
(248) 548-5005
Pl<
odesta
Qistortavae, Di
IN MARKET STREET SHOPPES, 29400 Northwestern Hwy.
Southfield
358-0344
Presents
Vfrtale,in Ceedrattiot
Enjoy Our Award-Winning Cuisine
And Favorite Specialties From
The Former ^
7* At Crosswinds Mall
Live Music and Dancing
Sunday, May 3, .5 p.m.
Buffet 5:30-8
OM.
or
4m1
MI
=
WO
=
-
MP.
Dine In or Carry-Out
29558 Orchard Lake Road
S. of 13 Mile • Farmington Hills
(248) 628-0804
Fax: (248) 8211-0822
<I a
Dancing Until
IMMO
=IN
=NI
ION
■ •••
.1 ■■
NMI
Y
:I f I =
8:30 - II a.m. Mon. - Fri.
$1 OFF
BAGEL, CREAM CHEESE 8 COFFEE
$1.99
6 3i 96
Coupons Not Valid With Any Other Offers
Call The Sales Department (248) 354-7123 Ext. 209
Advertise in our
new Entertainment
Section!
4/24
1998