Full of pretentious stuff (Full Frontal (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	Full Frontal (DVD)
Date:	18/06/05 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast

Disadvantages: But the cast is wasted on the material

I went to see this movie with high hopes. The main reason was because it was directed by Steven Soderbergh (his "Traffic" is one of my favourite movies, but he also made "Erin Brokovitch", "Ocean’s Eleven"... quite a list), but it also had what looked like a great cast, and, having seen the trailer, I could tell it was a bit on the oddball side - always something that wins me over.
But I found it a bit unsatisfactory – bit like a rehearsal actor’s workshop kind of thing, and we’re just eavesdropping. Which is probably how it’s supposed to feel, as it was filmed on DV, in just 18 days. Maybe it’s just an ironic gesture about films of this kind, which are popping up everywhere. In fact that’s the point they will, because they are so cheap, easy to make, and quick, and the directors and actors must love the extra freedom that brings. Soderberg also made in his early days "sex lies and videotape", a movie which he has claimed "Full frontal" is an 'unauthorisedi sequel' to.

How to describe the movie.
It uses the film-within a film device - hardly that original.
Essentially the story/stories are about a group of friends working in Hollywood. David Hyde Pierce (Niles in "Frasier") plays an L.A-based magazine writer, Carl, who has written with his playwright friend (Enrico Colantoni) a screenplay for a drama, "Rendezvous," a film that's currently in production. Carl doesn't know it but his wife, Lee (Catherine Keener), is having an affair with the film's star Nicholas (played by Blair Underwood). Additonal storylines involve Lee's masseuse sister, Linda (Mary McCormack), who's she's thinking of meeting up with a man she's met over the Internet, and Catherine (Julia Roberts), who is an actress named Francesca (confused yet?), and the one that Nicholas is falling for..

In the film-within-the-film, the central storyline involves Julia Roberts as a magazine journalist and most of their action is her interviewing Blair Underwood, and their developing relationship.
– Underwood, who used to be in “LA Law”, fits well into this role, as an actor who's mainly just had TV parts and is trying to break into movies.
The real-life scenes revolve around a group of people who interact in various ways, during the 24 hours leading up to a producer(David Duchovny)'s birthday party. There's the usual cheating and dialogue about obscure hang-ups, sexual or otherwise, and all kinds of sordid goings on.

Working titles included "How to survive a hotel room fire" and "The art of negotiating a turn" - both of which may give some more insight into the director's purpose when making the movie.

Overall, it could be seen as a satire on film-making and Hollywood lifestyle. But it's an uneasy one. And, no, it's nowhere near as good as a movie like "The Player".
None of the characters are likable in anyway, and even though I really love to see actors such as Catherine Keener, she, and others, were completely wasted with material like this.

It really is a star-studded cast, but not many of the actors allowed to shine.
There's a great cameo from Brad Pitt, playing himself. I would even go as far as to say that this may even be the main reason to bother to see the movie at all.

"Full Frontal" wasn't a movie I enjoyed at all. It's very messy, and ultimately very disappointing. Perhaps all the more so because there are glimpses of moments which could have been so much better.
For example, there's the scenes about the stage production “The sound of the Fuhrer” - an obviously hare-brained venture, which should have either been much funnier, or should have been much wierder (there are moments like this which recall the stranger moments of "Being John Malkovich", but usually miss by a mile).

Basically it feels like a talented director doing what he enjoys, making a movie, indulgently, with little regard to whether his audience is going to enjoy the finished product or not,. And, hey he's deserved that privelege by now. With "Full Frontal" no one could accuse Soderberg of being ultra-commercial (although the subsequent "Ocean's 12" may make you think again).

It may well be his intention to make you uneasy about the movie - it certainly feels like the audience is being manipulated into thinking something!

I have seen it described as "an uninteresting movie about the making of an uninteresting movie" which sums it up pretty well.

Running time: 101 minutes.

Summary: