'Career' pushes all the right buttons
'Secrets and Lies' director offers comedy, drama, warm-hearted film

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 16, 1997 - 9

By L4ura Flyer
DailyArts Writer
Nothing's more satisfying than
knowing a movie can push all the
right buttons in just 1 1/2 hours.
"Career Girls," directed by Mike
*eigb; who also
directe'd the recent R
Academy Award
nominee "Secrets
and Lies," is a
light.comedy, a
disturbing drama
and a heart-warm-
ing, friendship/bonding movie.
Not to say that an emotionally
charged film is a slam-dunk winner.
d ut,a in this case, you sometimes have
o accept a film for what it offers, and

E
C

admit that you were entertained. Who
cares if your laugh turns to a sigh, then
a smile, then a crinkle of the eyebrow,
until your face has contorted so many
times and in so many different ways
that you feel like you need to stretch it
® _out when the movie
:VIEW is over.
"Career Girls"
Career Girls begins with a bang;
not a catastrophe or
*** large event, but, in
At Ann Arbor 1 & 2 a way, a culture
adjustment.
Watching three neurotic, high-energy
girls living in a flat in London, talking a
mile-a-minute in thick yet unrefined
British accents is like entering a blast-
ing rock concert. After a while, though,

you get used to it.
Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) is an
extremely self-conscious, insecure
woman who struggles to control her
involuntary head jerks, not so much a
result of dependency to drugs (though it
is certainly a factor) but rather due to
her boundless and constant anxiety in
life.
When she moves into the apartment,
she befriends Annie (Lynda Steadman)
who is her counterpart: aggressive,
assertive, confident.
However, both women are seemingly
psycho, like they are on speed - daily.
And they are hysterical, particularly
Steadman. Hannah undoubtedly derives
her insecurity from the large scars on
her right cheek, and Annie, in contrast,
hides her insecurities by poking fun at
others.
"Did you do the tango with a
cheese grater?" Annie asks Hannah of
her mangled face, as she proceeds to
dance while rubbing a book on the
side of her cheek. OK, so obviously
it's inappropriate and rude, but it is
also hilarious.
Six years later, Hannah and Annie
have changed, completely. They have
respectable careers, more money and
are no longer the "crazy" girls they
once were.
Hannah, who left London years ago,
visits Annie for the first time since they
shared the apartment together. Things
are awkward at first.
Complementing everything that
Annie owns and her hospitality,
Hannah is envious of her best friend's
upscale life, even though Hannah has
gone through some upscaling herself.
But as Annie and Hannah relive their

youthful days in the city, frequent con-
frontations with their past bring them
closer together. At this point, director
Leigh gives up in originality.
Throughout the movie, as the two
best friends think about the good times
they used to share, Leigh flashes back
to their earlier days. Leigh decides that
the only way Hannah and Annie are
going to effectively bond when they
reunite is through a series of coinci-
dences.
First, they run into an ex-boyfriend
that they both dated; he is a real estate
developer. "Wow," they think, "that's so
strange that we ran into him!"
Second, while taking a walk, they see
their ex-housemate jogging by. Annie
remarks to Hannah that she can't
believe they keep running into their
past. Which makes it completely
expected that they run into Ricky (Mark
Benton), their former friend who had
once "fancied" Hannah. Sorry, but run-
ning into the three most important peo-
ple in one's past life isn't a daily or ordi-
nary event.
Nevertheless, Annie and Hannah are
most disturbed by Ricky, a large man
who once had been a stuttering yet car-
ing friend, and is now an aggressive
vagrant with newfound mental prob-
lems.
Benton does an amazing job in por-
traying a highly distraught, angry man.
Cartlidge and Steadman are just as
effective, aside from the fact that they
are visually unappealing to look at.
Unfortunately, Steadman doesn't
carry her comic interjections through-
out the movie, and "Career Girls"
loses much of its spunk and creative-
ness.

i

Cecilia Bartoli
mezzo-sop rano0
I Delfici, strings and continuo
Steven Blier, piano 2
Sundaq, September 21.4 p..
HILL AUDITORIUM
Have you been trying for three years to see
Cecilia Bartoli? There are great, affortable seats
still available! The University Musical Society
welcomes back this famed mezzo-soprano for
her third Ann Arbor recital. Come hear what all
of the fervor is about.

Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) and Annie (Lynda Steadman) are "Career Girls."
Mog uncovers '70s
gm, indie smack


Daily Arts Witer
When you think of Detroit-area
music, what do you think of? If it's7
Sponge, it's time for you to listen to
Mog Stunt Team and get those silly ;
notions out of your head.
The Stunt Team is a pseudo-fighting 1
force whose concrete goals are not;
ntirely clear, but whose method relies
a strong foundation of rock music in +
the best possible sense. The group's
sound is like a mix between '70s glam
a la Kiss and indie smack along theI
lines of the Cherubs. And the members
are home grown. Sort of.
"When I think of the scene (in Detroit), I+
only think of my friends and acquaintances+
in other bands around town, and that has
been the nature of the scene for over 10+
ars," said Mog drummer Scott #5.
"Detroit's development as a giant1
sprawling suburb from hell, a complete I
lack of urban centralization, preventsI
any kind of real "scene" from ever hap-
pening. There's more of a Noise Scene I
over the last few years than there's been
-a rock, scene for at least five. We do
havefans here, and we can count on a
considerable number of people at any
of ouriocal shows."
Mog is expanding now, however. Its1
rst album on Amphetamine Reptile,
'King of the Retards,' was just released1
and the band is planning a Canadian
and East Coast tour in the next couple
motlis. The group has done fairly 1
extensive Midwest touring, though, and
has tales to tell from it.+
"This past March, we were playing in
Lawrence, Kan., on the 18th, and after
four to five hours of searching the city ,
we were able to find the home of the late1
*William S. Burroughs," Scott #5 said.
"We're all big fans, and it was an excit-
ing .prospect to meet the author. Ken
knocked on his door, and lo and behold,
the man himself walked out on to the
frontporch. We gave him a copy of the
NATAS (National Anti-Tesh Action
Society) newspaper, 'The Alarm,' and1
shook hands. With a gravely voice, he
observed that, 'You all look like a bunch

of scum bags.' He seemed to be making
the statement with an approving attitude.
We were all too unhinged at that point to
make any coherent conversation, so we
bid farewell. As you probably know
already, he died recently, and that has led
us to claim that we were the last rock
band, or artists of any kind, to see the man
alive."
The aforementioned NATAS. is
devoted to exposing former
Entertainment Tonight host and awful
musician John Tesh as an alien bent on
the destruction of Earth. The band
seems essentially xenophobic, but Scott
#5 denied it. "The Stunt Team possess-
es no specific policy concerning
extraterrestrial life; however, our expe-
rience has led us to be slightly suspi-
cious. No substantial extraterrestrial
organization would have any use for
humanity at present, and any interven-
tions by same must have less than noble
motivations."
In fact, there is a slight variation of
the band, called the
BigBlackBugEngine Death Squad,
which is designed to battle something
called the BigBlackBugEngine. One
incident seems to have altered guitarist
Matt #5 to resemble rocker and reac-
tionary DJ Ted Nugent.
"Matt didn't always look like Ted. We
believe that a run in with the
BigBlackBugEngine released Ted's true
persona into Matt's care. The real Ted
being abducted by the BBBE sometime
after the release of 'Double Live
Gonzo.' Since then, Echelon has been
employing a poorly developed clone to
take the place of the real Ted. That
would explain some of Ted's ridiculous
behavior over the past 20 years."
The band certainly has some of the
energy that Nugent had when he was
the top tour draw in the country. And
Mog is much less cheesy. So if John
Tesh is ever about to ram his ovipositor
down your throat, remember that 555 is
the emergency Stunt Team code. The
band will probably be out touring, so
you might want to either get its CD or
prepare yourself for Echelon control.

313.764.2538
Uiueritq Musical Society
of the University of Michigan
Burton Memorial Tower
Ann Arbor. M 48109-1270

PROGRAM:
Vivaldi In furore lustissimae irae
Cessate, omai cessate
Agitata da due venti (from La Griselda)
Schubert Da quel sembiante appresi, D. 688, No. 3
Mio ben ricordati,D. 688, No.4
Se dall'Etra, D. 738
Non taccostar all'urna, D. 688, No.1
La pastorela, D. 528
Garcia Havanaise
Hai luli
Delibes Les filles des Cadix
Rossini Riedi al soglio (from Zelmira)
Sponsored by ici-i~vi
PHARMACEUTICAL
RESEARCH

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