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February 03, 2005
The Daytrippers
The Daytrippers (1996), Greg Mottola:
This seems like the perfect companion piece to a favorite of mine, Big Night, not just because of the Campbell Scott-Stanley Tucci link. The two, fittingly released in the same month of 1996, feel somewhat incomplete by the standard standards of movie construction, but neither really wants for whatever finishing piece might be needed. Rather, they unassumingly and contentedly serve a slice of what feels like a larger work and leave it at that. There's no need to establish the moral message or provide for emotional growth. The characters are obviously figments of a movie universe and viewed through a comic lens, the style seems much closer to a transparent realism. I wasn't quite sure how to handle Big Night when I first saw it, but this (along with the quasi-related Next Stop Wonderland) helped me to understand what it was doing.
The Daytrippers doesn't quite have the same glow as Big Night and doesn't have quite as complelling characters or writing. It's more than worth watching, though, and the cast is still excellent.
12/15
Posted by bing at February 3, 2005 02:02 PM