The Accidental Journalist (The Shipping News (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	The Shipping News (DVD)
Date:	17/03/02 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast, gorgeous locations

Disadvantages: No surprises

'The Shipping News' is about Quoyle (Kevin Spacey), an uncommunicative man trapped in a loveless marriage to the loathsome Petal (Cate Blanchett), who doesn't even have the good manners to sleep with her boyfriends outside the family home. When Petal is killed, Quoyle returns with his Aunt (Judi Dench) and his strange daughter Bunny (played by triplets, fact fans!) to the remote Newfoundland coast where his family originated. Falling into a job at The Gammy Bird (the local paper), Quolye starts to rebuild himself through writing, friends, and a tentative romance with local widow Wavey (Julianne Moore).

I haven't read the book by E. Annie Proulx, and someone will no doubt tell me that I should have, so I might be at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, a film should definitely be able to stand alone. Watching this, I found myself becoming increasingly irritated, because I was sure I had seen the film before.

The plot, certainly in this movie, seemed to have been assembled from off-cuts of great American novelists - the opening stretch of the film, with Quoyle's unhappy childhood, disastrous marriage and bereavement are straight out of a John Irving novel. In particular, the way in which Petal's death is a blend of nasty cynical farce (she sells Bunny to a black market adoption agency) and dumb, pointless fatal bad luck (plunging off a bridge in a car) feels as it has been dragged from 'A Widow for One Year' or 'The World According to Garp'.

Thereafter, the film becomes a relocated rewrite of 'The Accidental Tourist' by Anne Tyler - emotionally constipated man retreats from the death of a loved one, only to be brought out of his shell by eccentricity. The only difference seems to be that Quoyle becomes a writer, rather than being one already, and that the eccentrics surround him, rather than being just one person. I'm sure I read that William Hurt, who played Macon Leary in Lawrence Kasdan's
classic film of that book, was in the running for this. I guess it's better to plagiarise the best of American literature rather than copy, say, Danielle Steele, and the book may be more distinctive, but 'The Shipping News' feels overly familiar.

On the surface, it's an entertaining film - a cast this good is always likely to be worth watching - but there seemed to be precious little going on underneath. Quoyle's problems seemed to be solved too neatly, too easily. Having been plunged into tragedy, all of the elements for Quoyle's rehabilitation seem to have been assembled in Newfoundland, and all he has to do is find them; friends, family, a job, a home, it's all there waiting for him, and he just has to be sensible enough to identify them. The sense of déjà vu is heightened by the prospect of Spacey played yet another middle-aged man finally getting in touch with his inner self, Dench playing another crotchety but loveable old bag, and Moore being yet another soulful Woman With A Story.

Every year, Miramax, a company founded and run by the Weinstein brothers, but now owned by Disney, assemble a prestige production, usually based on a quality novel ('Shakespeare in Love' was a rare original), load it with good stars and get a high quality director to make it all worthy of an Academy Award. 'The Shipping News' is this year's edition, and this is definitely the problem. The locations are gorgeous, the performances solid, the script good, the direction is very fluid and imaginative (Lasse Hallstrom, who made superb versions of 'Chocolat' and John Irving's 'The Cider House Rules'): but it feels like something that has just rolled off the production line. Even if it's a bit bland or shonky, there'll be another one along next year. The mixture hasn't quite failed, but it hasn't quite hit the mark either.

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