Director: Robert Young
Year: 1980
Rating: 5.0
Paul Simon is a great songwriter, he is a good singer but as it turned out
he is a very bad actor. Stick to what you are good at. He got it into his
head after a brief appearance in Annie Hall and guest hosting a few Saturday
Night Live shows that he could act and take on a film that he had written.
Not to be cruel but he was wrong, a conclusion he came to after the film
bombed badly. Odd considering that he had been performing music for years,
but he has no presence - a cardboard box has more charisma. The film company
had tried to persuade him to allow an actor to play his part - Richard Dreyfuss
was mentioned but Simon thought that would be inauthentic. Not sure if Dreyfuss
could have given the film a little zip but it couldn't be less. It is ironic
in that to some degree what contributed to the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel
was Garfunkel going off to act in Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge when Simon
was trying to put together the Bridge Over Trouble Water album (and the fact
that he gave Garfunkel the lead on that song which became huge and left Simon
feeling diminished).
It is about a mid-30 year old singer who had one hit years before and was
now performing with his band in small venues trying to catch fire but very
much out of the loop regarding the current music scene. He has a marriage
(Blair Brown) that is falling apart and a young son that he hangs out with.
Which had elements of autobiographical material in it. At one point he and
his son come out of watching The Empire Strikes Back which was a bit of an
inside joke as he was dating Carrie Fisher at the time. Much of the film
is Simon playing Simon except without the popularity and fame. For years
he was depressed and morose even with the fame and money - kind of mopey
as is this character with his baseball cap and jeans. But somehow he gets
laid a lot.
The film is saved by the music. Simon contributes a number of songs that
are either performed in concert or play over scenes. There are also guest
appearances by The B-52s, Sam and Dave and The Loving Spoonful. Lou Reed
has a role as a record producer. Rip Torn is the record company owner - Torn's
wife who Simon sleeps with is played by Joan Hackett (a dash of real life
truth there as well) - and the very irritating Hare Krishna guy at the airport
- that is Daniel Stern at the very beginning of his career - so a good
supporting cast. Music wise though Simon was in a dry period - he is notorious
for taking a long time to write his songs and after his first three solo
albums - Paul Simon, There Goes Rhymin' Simon and Still Crazy After All These
Years - he had long gaps between albums. This came out five years after Still
Crazy and the music is decent enough but nothing compared to the three previous
albums or what came later - Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints. I am reading
a biography on Simon and was curious about this very forgotten film.
