fe tdAn ioug F Monday 23, 1996 5A September; Grand cast fails to save graceless 'Heart' ' ____________________________ Berry's 'Wife' wishes for too much By Bryan Lark Daily Arts Writer Exiting the theater at the end of the hall with "The Rich Man's Wife" emblazoned above the ' por, I am disaffected by having just survived eer torture at the hands of Halle Berry. RE But through my bore- dom, one pressing The I question arises. Is "The Rich Man's Wife" the worst movie ever made? In the following paragraphs, an examination will be conducted to determine if this lifeless lone of every so-called suspense-thriller in the Wast decade is worthy of its place as the epito- me of worthless cinema. First, let us examine the sorry excuse for a plot. "Wife"is the redundant, predictable story of Josie Potenza (Halle Berry), who is, NO!, a. rich man's wife, Said rich man is Tony (Christopher McDonald), a television executive and adulter- er extraordinaire who neglects his wife so often, she is forced into the arms of her British A'V Ri( hunk of love, Jake Golden IIEW (Clive Owen). Just when things are ch Man% starting to get heated, Wite Josie breaks it off with No stars Jake and forces Tony to At Showcase take her on vacation, in hopes of reconciliation with her wayward, wealthy husband. However, Tony soon aborts the getaway in favor of a business meeting, leaving Josie to fraternize with scary stranger Cole (Peter Greene). Seemingly moments after meeting Cole, the pair are inexplicably best friends and she tells him every detail of her sordid, sor- rowful life. When Cole turns psychotic and obsessive in record time and offers to kill Tony, Josie high- tails it back to Los Angeles where marital bliss is suddenly prevalent. That happiness is shattered when Cole fol- lows Josie home, kidnaps Tony, takes him to a park and shoots him at least 80 times, before he finally expires on some playground equipment - easily the most hilarious death scene ever captured on film. To make a mercilessly long story short, Cole blackmails Josie, claiming the murder was her idea. Josie turns to Jake, who is, not surpris- ingly, in cohorts with Cole to get his hands on Tony's money. With no other suspects, the bumbling police officers blame Josie for the murder, who in turn must kick ass and reclaim her good name. If the film sounds like a bad episode of "Melrose Place," you're giving it too much See WIFE, Page 8A By Kelly Xintaris Daily Arts Writer Remember the stomach-turning scene in "Cape Fear" where Robert De Niro's character, in psycho mode, chews off a woman's cheek? Illeana Douglas played the victim in that breakthrough film, and she reprises the wronged-woman role in "Grace of My Heart." Eric Stoltz cheats on her, Bruce Davison cheats on his wife with her, and Matt Dillon makes an ungraceful exit before she realizes that she has cheated herself out of real happiness. Douglas plays Edna Buxton, an aspiring singer and song- writer from a very wealthy Pennsylvania family. When the precarious chanteuse wins a contract with a New York record label, she heads for the Big Apple with dreams of singing her own songs her own way. The reality of what sells in the late '50s, however, quickly dashes away Buxton's hopes for diva status. Female singers like Peggy Lee were no longer "swell," and male rock groups would soon become "the most." When manager Joel Millner, overplayed by John Turturro, walks into Buxton's life, she sells out - not to make money, but to keep making music. Buxton changes her name to Denise Waverly and settles into work at the Brill Building, a place that in reality used to churn out hit pop songs that are now relegated to oldies sta- tions. The film traces the path of Buxton's career across a decade of turbulent relationships, concluding rather melodra- matically with R EVIEW"thematerializa- tion of her initial Grace of My dream. Heart Director Allison Anders At Showcase has gotten much- deserved atten- tion for her work, which has centered on women's experi- ences. In "Grace of My Heart," Anders' collaboration with Martin Scorsese as executive producer results in a film that wavers between a woman's story and a period piece. She seems to be aiming for too many things at once, and the film, like Buxton, loses its voice in the process. Douglas lip-syncs her heart out, and Turturro and Stoltz look like they stepped out of an old beatnik-inspired Cappio commercial. Despite this appeal to authenticity, the film lacks a certain genuineness that even its impressive cast can- not bring to the screen. Although Douglas' quirky vulnera- bility enhances the Buxton character, the dialogue with her men often seems forced. Stoltz stands out as Buxton's appealingly slick co-writer and first husband Howard Caszatt. As Jay Phillips, a psyche- delic surf rocker, Dillon does his best Jim Morrison impres- sion. Like his "Drugstore Cowboy" role, Dillon plays dazed and confused well, as he bravely sports a wig that would make Shaggy of "Scooby-Doo" fame jealous. Despite the distractions the supporting cast provides, how- ever, some major gaps in the plot detract from the film's con- tinuity. Luma (Brittany English Stevens), a teen-age mother Buxton once wrote about, suddenly lives with her, and Buxton's old friends, Doris Shelley (Jennifer Leigh Warren) and Cheryl Steed (Patsy Kensit) pop up in Los Angeles - all with no explanation. The result is a wide range of slang, from "the most" to "far out," and fashion, from capri pants to hip-huggers, that par- allel a widely stated message: follow your dreams, be your- self and so on. With new songs and old substance, "Grace of My Heart" might have a good beat, but you might not want to pay $6.75 for it. R.E.M. cashes in with 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' By Brian A. Gnatt Daily Arts Editor R.E.M. is cashing in. The band's latest release, "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" (**, Warner Bros.), would be more aptly titled "Old Rehashes from the R.E.M. Songbook " With its collection of 14 tracks recorded at soundchecks, dressing rooms and a ew studios, the record sounds like a b- Wides compilation with some new mate- rial, but mostly re-used riffs and even alternate versions of R.E.M. classics. "New Adventures" has three different types of songs: One sounds like left- overs from their 1994 "Monster" ses- sions, another sounds like "Monster" with a little oomph and innovation, but the third type are rip-offs of R.E.M. tracks from the band's "Out of Time" and "Automatic for the People" albums. 14 The rip-off factor and failure to dxplore new territory make "New Adventures" a disappointing record. For the past 15 years, the band has been releasing constantly progressing albums. Each record built on the last and expanded the band's horizons. This time, though, the sky must be falling in as the band regresses to create one of R.E.M.'s worst albums, if not the worst. The fact that the band tried to pass off >ld tracks with new names is insulting to the listener. "Electrolite" is "Automatic"'s "Nightswimming" - the two have almost identical piano riffs and Michael $tipe's same style of vocals. The instru- mental "Zither" is "Automatic"'s "Star Me Kitten" without the words. Others like "E-Bow the Letter," the radio-friend- ly duet with Patti Smith, is the twin broth- er of "Out of Time"'s "Country Feedback," and "New Test Leper" sounds uite a bit like "Out of Time"'s "Half A orld Away" (and Pearl Jam's "Elderly Woman" from "Vs"). Aside from the remakes, the majority of tracks continue right where "Monster" left off. "The Wake-Up Bomb" is a good track, as is "Departure," with its Bachman-Turner Overdrive-sounding guitar riff. "Bittersweet Me" is another solid rocker that borrows its intro from the R.E.M. classic "Fall On Me." Despite its "Monster" sound, "New Adventures" does experiment a bit, in the same vein as U2's "Zooropa." "Leave" hUs a siren blaring throughout the track that gives it a good groove and interesting sound. The album opener, "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us," is a slow, antanina-znu it Sinea mellw I Iileana Douglas (top), Matt Dillon and John Turturro star In Allison Anders' latest film, "Grace of My Heart." Peter Buck (far left), Mike Mills, Michael Stipe and Bill Berry, otherwise known as R.E.M., are back with anoth- er album, the mediocre "New Adventures in Hi-Fl." READ I .1 You are Ver 'r t. is Coke,/ 1499 2 pks*5SI A A ,I+c' cficnt-c irt( ,r wvctr 1nttnn .12-ok. Coca-Cola Classic, Diet I