2001 / 111 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Jason Jones

If there is one thing that we can be thankful for in this deplorable year for film, it is that as 2001 came to a close, we were not flooded with the “Oscar-bait” films that only rear their heads as Santa is hitching up the reindeer and getting down to business. I can only think of about three films that I would classify as “Oscar-bait” from this past year, although I’m sure a case could be made for a couple of others. They are “Ali”, “A Beautiful Mind”, and the unforgivable piece of pretentiousness that is the basis of this review: “The Shipping News”.

I believe that this movie really could have been quite good. All of the elements are in place. Just look at the cast for Clint’s sake! Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, and Judi Dench aren’t exactly known for making crap like this. There is even a great supporting cast in place comprised of Scott Glenn, Pete Postlethwaite (“The total man of a bounty hunter from “The Lost World”.), and Rhys Ifans (Best known for portraying Hugh Grant’s eccentric roommate in “Notting Hill”. Add to the cast the talents of Lasse Hallstrom, director of films such as “Chocolat” and “The Cider House Rules”, and you’ve got the makings of something truly special. Right?

Wrong.

Unfortunately the film doesn’t have a bloody clue about what it wants to do or where it wants to go. It starts with the incredibly timid Quoyle (Spacey) picking up Petal (Blanchett) at a gas station, taking her home and bumbling his way into what Petal intends to be a one night stand, but instead turns into a daughter and a boyfriend she doesn’t want. Fast forward a few years and Petal gets killed in a car crash, which results in Quoyle going to Newfoundland, to find his way in life, with his daughter and aunt (Dench) in tow. Once in Newfoundland, Quoyle finds a job with the local newspaper and the three of them take up residence in his aunt’s childhood home. While he blunders his way around town he bumps into Wavey (Moore), who has a past that is just as confused as Quoyle’s, and a relationship inevitably forms between the two of them.

That is the film in a nutshell. I’m sorry I couldn’t sum it up any better, but the film lacks direction in so many ways that it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on the majority of the time. In the end it suffers from making a lot of promises and delivering on none of them. Just when the film feels like it’s going to find its course something would happen to detach the plot from the possibility of having any sense of order. Things such as ghosts and Quoyle’s daughter saying that the house is alive and should be set free, troubled me greatly. Simply due to the fact that they have no place in the story, so far as I can tell anyway.

The film never knows what it wants to be. One minute it’s a quirky comedy about a bunch of cool dudes working at a newspaper in a small town where the only thing people truly seem to care about is car accidents. The next minute it goes the road of heavy-handedness in dealing with themes such as incest, mental retardation, and pasts that should be left alone. Then it goes off in the direction of ghosts and houses wanting to be set free, before it gets back to the good stuff at the newspaper. I feel if the film had focused on the goings on at the newspaper it would have been the film it hoped to be, because that stuff was actually fun and interesting. The rest of the film just hangs there, serves no purpose, and essentially does nothing.

It’s a shame that this film didn’t make its way into the hands of someone such as Lawrence Kasdan. If he had made this film it would have been great. He would have been able to meld these elements together to make the cohesive and rewarding film that Lasse Hallstrom was clearly incapable of making of the source material. Kasdan has proven time and again with films such as “Mumford” and “The Big Chill” that he can meld comedy and drama together seamlessly to produce a rich and rewarding cinematic experience.

The performances are all what one would expect of all the actors involved. None of them falter. None of them drop the ball. No, I place the full blame for this film’s failure on the shoulders of Hallstrom and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs for being able to make such a contrived and pointless film despite the level of talent they were given.

Oscar-bait is something we’re all going to have to deal with for as long as the Academy chooses to continue handing out statues each March. What we shouldn’t have to deal with is bad Oscar-bait. I can handle films like “A Beautiful Mind” and “American Beauty” because they are actually well crafted, enjoyable cinematic experiences. Good Oscar-bait is forgivable and even allowable in my book, but I have no place in my heart for bad Oscar-bait, unless it is so pathetic that it becomes laughable, but I don’t see that happening.

“The Shipping News” commits the ultimate celluloid sin of becoming bad Oscar-bait. Avoid this one like the plague. Despite the fact that you get to see a wake live up to its name, it’s still not worth the price of admission. If, for some otherworldly reason, you absolutely must see some variation of Oscar-bait, then you would be much better off with “A Beautiful Mind”, rather than this hapless bit of nonsense.

Share on Facebook

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2002 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Jason's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.