DIRECTED BY: Dylan Kidd
STARRING: Campbell Scott, Jesse Eisenberg, Isabella Rossellini, Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals
BUDGET: N/A
EARNED (Worldwide): $1.9m
AWARDS: None
After breaking up with his lover and boss, a smooth-talking man takes his teenaged nephew out on the town in search of sex.
A cynical New York advertising copywriter Roger Swanson is recently dumped by his girlfriend and boss Joyce, which the next day is further complicated by the unexpected arrival of his nephew Nick. Nick says he’s arrived in New York for an interview in Columbia, but also asks for Roger’s help on the art of seduction in picking up women. For the rest of the day/night, Roger proceeds to take Nick out to town in give him his guidance on how to pick up women, but during the course of the night does he really want to turn Nick into another version of himself?
A first feature film from Dylan Kidd, he brings forward a refreshing take on the romance aspect of the battle of the sexes, allowing for long conversations to set the tone of the film and drag the audience in for the performances, all the while making the characters that appear in the film come across as three dimensional, allowing for their view points in certain discussions during the course of the film, especially the women portrayed here by Isabella Rossellini, Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals. Jesse Eisenberg is great as the naive Nick, going along with Roger’s plans for the night but then begins to question his methods as after all, Roger is one of the most ‘arrogant player’ personas to appear on screen and is masterfully played by Scott Campbell, without him nailing the razors edge of the character, the film would fall flat on its face with what it was trying to achieve. We all know a Roger, for all his bravado of his conquests, he just appears with ultimately the most common thing we feel from time to time – loneliness.
FAVOURITE SCENE: The bar scene between Roger and Nick, joined alongside Andrea and Sophie. Just the dialogue between the characters here was the peak of the film for me.
FAVOURITE QUOTE: “You drink that drink! Alcohol has been a social lubricant for thousands of years. What do you think, you’re going to sit here tonight and reinvent the wheel?” – Roger
DID YOU KNOW?: Jesse Eisenberg received his very first kiss from Jennifer Beals in a scene from this film.
Irish Cinephile 