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April 07, 1997 - Image 5

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1997-04-07

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See Jan Sverak's "Kolya," winner of Best Foreign Film of 1996. The
film traces the life of a once-renowned cellist in Russian-occupied
Prague. Discover how his Russian bride and her 6-year-old son, Kolya,
touch his life. Czech with English subtitles. Don't miss the chance to
see "Kolya" on Michigan Theater's big screen. The screening will
begin at 9 p.m. Admission is $5.

Monday
April 7,1997

ford, Pitt stink up 'Devil'

By Michael Zilberman
Daily Arts Writer
There's something awfully romantic
about the Irish underground as viewed
from Hollywood. Having signed up for
the corresponding part, the actor automat-
*ly gets a benefit
package of cool R
manneksms t-
wearing black, strik- The
ing poses of coiled
tenseness at phone
calls and door rings, At B
nervously exhaling
patriotic proclamations with cigarette
smoke. And then, there's The Accent.
Compared to all of this, what allure is
,re in the part of a hard-working New
York cop out to get this walking incar-
nation of anti-establishment chic?
None; and that's why "The Devil's
Own," a story of a policeman unwitting-
ly harboring an IRA bomber, needed no

less than Harrison Ford as the former to
balance things out - after landing Brad
Pitt as the latter. And, unfortunately, that's
why the strongest impression the film
leaves is that of an extended tug-of-war
between its leads.

EVIEW
Devil's Own

It should be
noted that Ford's
character crashes
the film a good 20
minutes in (not

E

SF r a n c e s
ariarwood and Showcase McDormand in
"Fargo;" of course,
but still a dramatically delayed entrance),
and up until that point, we're already
aligned and ready to sympathize with Pitt
as the tortured anti-hero.
The poor guy, forever haunted with
titles like The Sexiest Earlobe in the
Galaxy or something to that effect, here
concludes a trilogy of desperate pleas to
be taken seriously. In "The Devil's

Own' Pitt is back to his glam mode as
far as appearances are concerned, and
director Alan Pakula still shoots him in
adoring close-ups, but the performance
itself is gravely tense. He valiantly tack-
les the brogue and pulls it off; he flirts
with deliberate underacting, early
Costner-style, and fares a bit worse
there.
Harrison Ford, on the other hand, has
always been a reliable player with no sig-
nificant ups or downs. His O'Meara is
equally convincing: taking a colleague's
acquaintance under his wing, forging a
friendship, surviving a betrayal and
finally exacting a cool, efficient and pas-
sionless revenge.
To keep "The Devil's Own" in the
realm of psychological drama rather
than resort to action-flick pyrotechnics,
Pakula mucks up Harrison's motives:
He doesn't just help the Feds nail
Frankie, he does it for Frankie's protec-

Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt star in the suspense-thriller, "The Devil's Own."

tion. You can feel the film straining to
make sense out of this situation, by
throwing in a bloodthirsty British agent
who seemingly takes IRA people out
like rabbits. In other words, Pitt is dead,
but he's even more dead if the FBI gets
him first. Not much of a selection there;

it does, however, hang an invisible cape
of doom over Pitt's shoulders, prettify-
ing his cause even further. Ford, for his
part, gets to project hushed guilt.
By the time "The Devil's Own" comes
to a close with an inevitable personal
confrontation, each lead owns exactly 50

percent of the flimsy script. Any other
film would jump at the opportunity to
have its stars openly slug it out; here, both
Pitt and Ford seem so exhausted from
trying to upstage each other in their sep-
arate scenes, they just whip out the hand-
guns.

'Malcolm' brings zany humor to prime time

*

*Anna Kovalszki
Daily Arts Writer
Sometimes, though on highly rare
occasions, great comedy can be found
in the most unlikely of places. The
bizarre circumstances of "Malcolm and

Eddie" should raise skepticism in even
the most faithful comedy-watcher.
After all, even though the incompatible
roommate situation has been used fre-
quently to elicit laughs, how likely is it
that these roommates, after struggling

to make a living, end up winning the
Missouri State Lottery and, consequent-
ly, purchase the entire apartment build-
ing in which they live?
This is the case of Malcolm McGee

complaining of an awful flu, and while
she feeds him chicken broth soup, we
find out (from Eddie) that he was well
enough to play in a baseball game earli-
er. He also fools around with Eddie,
joking, laughing, punching, like he and

(Malcolm-Jamal Warner) and
Sherman (Eddie
Griffin), two bache-
lors who move to
Kansas City and get
paired up to live
together by their
two mothers. Since
they buy the build-

REVIEW
Malcolm and
Eddie
UPN
Mondays at 8:30 p.m.

Eddie

Roach used to do
on "The Cosby
Show."
Eddie is a little
bit naive and some-
times fool-hardy,
attributes that make
he and Malcolm
flavorful chemistry.

Win free passes to 'The Saint'
Let Daily Arts be your sav-
ior. Courtesy of Paramount
Pictures and United Artists.
Briarwood, you can win one
of our pairs of passes to
see Val Kilmer and
Elisabeth Shue save each
other and the world In the
new espionage thriller, "The
Saint." Just send an e-mail
to dally.arts@umlch.edu
with your name and phone
number for a chance to let
The Michigan Daily help you
save your $7.
A centre of excellence for
university teaching and
research

ing, each can follow his dream, -
Malcolm wants to make McGee's (down-
stairs pub) the hottest night-spot in town,
and Eddie wants to run a successful auto-
repair shop, which is located next to their
building. These circumstances, however
unbelievable they are, allow two average
guys to share their comedic qualifica-
tions in run-of-the-mill, yet cool, settings.
"The Cosby Show"'s successful aura
follows Jamal-Warner to his new sit-
com. His character is still the lovable-
young-man type who Theo Huxtable
typified so well. He is still chasing after
the "honeys;' notably the cute waitress
Holly (Angelle Brooks) who works in
his pub. He lures her to his apartment

possess a certain

After all, who would go around asking
girls for their underwear and expect
more than a few slaps on the cheeks?
Eddie also delivers great one-liners to
the pair's repertoire. After the baseball
game, he tries to ask some nuns out on
dates, and this is his final summation of
the matter, "Nuns don't dig you none,
that's why me don't get none (nun)."
This talent stems from Eddie Griffin's
earlier success as a stand-up comedian.
So, whoever says that realistic cir-
cumstances need to be part of a suc-
cessful television show needs to exam-
ine "Malcolm and Eddie" and to realize
that humor knows no limits.

MA Programmes

.....~...
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Icolm Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin bring laughs to "Malcolm and Eddie."

Further Information
The Secretary
Graduate School of European and
International Studies
Department of Politics'
The University of Reading
Whiteknights, P0 Box 218
Reading RG6 6AA, UK
Tel: +44(0)1189318378
Fax: +44(0)1189755442
E-mail: c.bluth@reading.ac.uk

r--

I

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HAs FALL HOUSING FOR YOU.
*The most beautiful Women's Residence Hall
in the Best Location on Campus
eHistoric Building
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*Spacious Carpeted Rooms
19 Meals a week
*Freshwomen through Grad Students
*A diverse, multi-ethnic, international population
*A close knit family atmosphere with only 140 residents.
Safe, Protective, Caring Environment.

i

763-2084
ggp@umich.edu

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iChildren learn to talk from imitating caregivers
LINGUISTICS 211
INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE
--Where fact meets fiction--
Lecture: MW 12-1
Discussion: F 9, 10, 11, 12, 1
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