12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, June 7, 1995
'Mad Love'is
By Sarah Rogacki
Daily Arts Writer
Long live teen romance! Admit it,
we 20-something MTV babies were
weaned on John Hughes induced teen
angst. Even after years of mind-grilling
college courses, many of us can still re-
cite "The Breakfast Club" from begin-
ning to end.
Hot on the heels of the critically ac-
claimed "Priest," British director
Antonia Bird gives puppy love a '90s
facelift with her new movie "Mad
Love." Don't worry, the formula for
the teen epic is still the same: a hip
soundtrack, Ringwald-esque couture,
deflowering sex and stolen cars. The
cast is, indeed, different. Enter the buff
Chris O'Donell and alterna-poster girl
Drew Barrymore. O'Donnell plays the
straight and narrow Matt Leland, a top
student who takes care of his single-
parent family after his mother leaves
them. That is, until he meets
Barrymore's Casey Roberts, a wild
and woolly Chicagoan who moves to
the Seattle area with her seemingly
anal-repressive parents.
After pulling some crazy stunts at
school and romping in the hay with the
virginal Matt, Casey lands herself in a
mental ward due to a nasty fight with
her father. Breaking her out of the joint
proves a cake-walk for the newly liber-
a crazy romp
ated Matt, and the two take off on a
cross-country adventure en route to
Mexico. As the trip progresses, Corey
spirals into the dark depths of clinical
depression. Not your average tale of
teenage hormonal imbalance.
Mad LoVe
Dirctd by Antni Bird
with Chris O'Donnell and
Drew Barrymoore
At Showcase, State through Friday
and Ann Arbor1&2 starting
Friday.
In all respects, let's just say that
"Mad Love" gives an honest effort at
being a good film. Pauline Milne's
script is like a weird batch of batter that
cooks up into an uneven, lumpy cake.
But it still tastes good. The first hour of
the film involves common-place ban-
ter that tries to emotionally connect the
two young lovers and falls flat; the
highlight of Corey and Matt's mating
dance manifests itself when the two at-
tend a rowdy 7 Year Bitch show.
The film really begins to gain mo-
mentum as the couple set off for the open
road. Some of Milne's best writing
comes in staging the complexities of
RECORDS
Continued from page 10
Claw Hammer
11
'5" 1 '""" ' " ' "'"""" 1V
Casey's mental illness. Bird follows suit
by expressing the young woman's inner-
torment from the outside-in through a
series of close-ups and the subjective
agitation of the soundtrack..
Not surprisingly, Drew Barrymore
plays a great neurotic. Yet, her inability
to carry on daily conversations without
dropping monotone lines or, at the other
extreme, giving a bouncy valley girl de-
livery, really drags on the first half of the
film. The second half of the film proves
that Barrymore has the potential to
emerge from the cocoon like the butter-
flies Casey identifies with in the film.
Barrymore's ability shines through in a
midnight fit of hysteria and later in a res-
taurant when she tries desperately to hold
her mind together.
Making the connection with
Barrymore better late than never,
O'Donnell is sent out on the "hug patrol"
in this movie. Although many young
women in the audience would love to be
on the receiving end, Matt's character is
never fully developed and he ends up
being little more than Casey's crutch.
Proven a fine young actor in "The Scent
" " ". T.w+>fn.r /-a n ®r. irnt os
Thank The Holder Upper
Interscope Records
Claw Hammer has been grating the
ears of the California punk scene for a
few years with its fiery wail of gut-pierc-
ing guitar and dentist-drill vocals. Vocal-'
ist/guitarist John Wahl and guitarist
Christopher Bagarozzi are responsible
for some of the most shrill rock sounds
ever placed on a record, and "Thank The
Holder Uppers" is no different.
"So many sounds, so little time,"
should be Claw Hammer's motto, for the
band crams every instrumental phrase into
four-minute songs while using much har-
monica. sparse piano, a little saxophone
and even a trumpet. In other words, the
band overburdens its sound. Your audio4
synapses will surely snap while listening to
Claw Hammer's kinetic outburstings and
you'll be left asphyxiating on the floor
while desperately reaching for thejust-out-
of-reach telephone to call the paramedics.
Not necessarily a good thing.
Every guitar break, every piano scale,
every guitar solo and chord makes Claw
Hammer's sound overly extended, and in
the end you just don't want to hear any
more. Coupled with this intense phrasing,
Wahl's vocals exist as a curious enigma.
He can't sing, and I know that this isn't
necessarily a prerequisite for a great punk
band but Wahl is simply annoying. Inter-
esting, but annoying.
-Matt Carlson
aWest ie
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since 1975
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113 W. Liberty (1/2 block W. of Main St.)
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O'Donnell does manage to pull off an air When the Magic Hour were In town last November, they mystified a small but
of knee-melting sensitivity mixed in with loyal following at Zoot's Coffeehouse with their mixture of noise and sheer bliss.
a little J. Crew brawn. Now, with a new album out, which features the 20-minute rave-up ("Passing
Words") that nearly blew the roof off of Zoot's, they'll attempt to shake Alvin's to
its very foundations. Apart from the noise, though, you can expect to hear lots of
their trademark spacey guitar solos, cymbal-crashing chaos, and some of the
N ew sletters most beautiful bass guitar playing you're ever likely to hear. But hey, what else
would you expect from a band made up of ex-members of Galaxle 500 and
Newsletters Crystalized Movements? This show should not be missed.
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