Dummy (2002)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Dummy (2002): Dir: Greg Pritikin / Cast: Adrian Brody, Milla Jovovich, Vera Farmiga, Illeana Douglas, Jared Harris: Comedy about ventriloquism in both the physical structure of the doll and the social handicap of its owner. Adrian Brody dreams of becoming a professional ventriloquist because it vents his social atmosphere. He lives with his parents and sister, a wedding planner whose ex drunkenly pursues her. His best friend Fangora wishes to become a musician. Brody loses his job and becomes infatuated with his employment counsellor. Witty and intelligent humour with minor complaint regarding linking of particular relationships. Greg Pritikin directs with insight with Brody trying to communicate his feelings to a world that only sees his flaws. Milla Jovovich is hilarious as well-meaning Fangora particularly when her advice nearly channels Brody into a stalker. Vera Farmiga is pleasant as the employment counsellor overwhelmed at Brody's advances until she sees into his talent. Illeana Douglas steals scenes as his sister. She desires to be a singer but is interrupted constantly by her ex. Clever and insightful independent filmmaking at its best. Pritikin avoids formula storytelling and goes for detail when addressing these interesting themes added to the whole ventriloquist element, which is interesting. It contains a wonderful view of ventriloquism and the struggle to adapt. Score: 9 / 10

Steven (Adrien Brody), nearly 30 and living with his parents, sees an old Edgar Bergen movie on TV and decides to fulfill his longtime dream of becoming a ventriloquist. His beautiful unemployment counselor Lorena (Vera Farmiga) finds him work, but puts out a restraining order on him when he paints a thank-you note on her door. Later, this young mother agrees to date him anyway, but finds his bickering family, and his inexperience with women, daunting to a relationship. Steven's sister Heidi (Illeana Douglas) is a wedding planner with a drunken ex-fiancé who keeps showing up at the door. His friend Fangora (Milla Jovavich) is a pseudo-punk rocker whose sex does not prevent her from giving him terrible advice about women. The wedding of a Jewish girl, who wants Klezmer music and gets something unexpected, will become a turning point in everyone's lives.Whoa, this is bad. Greg Pritikin directs his own script, about a tenth of which is funny. The rest strains hard to give us quirky characters, wacky situations and unexpected plot twists; but we can't buy any of it. The movie becomes unrecoverable when Lorena changes her mind about the restraining order and agrees to date Steven—after he mails her a videotaped apology featuring himself and his dummy. The message on her door disturbed her, but the tape charmed her? I could almost hear Vera Farmiga's brain going "ZZZZZT!" as she tried to play this character. Their relationship grows into the least believable nerd-with-beautiful-girl scenario I've ever seen.The performances are varied. Adrien Brody recovers fairly well from playing such a pointless character. Farmiga is charming, especially considering the impossibility of her job. Jovavich, with her affected Jersey accent, never quite seems to inhabit her character. Illeana Douglas, a good actress, does a lousy job here. She doesn't seem to get what she's doing, and we can hardly blame her.This is part of a sub-genre in comedy that I dislike: one that blurs the distinction between celebrating and belittling the losers it depicts. "Napoleon Dynamite," "Waiting for Guffman" and documentaries like "American Movie" and "Gates of Heaven" all belong in this dubious category. But "Dummy" is much worse. It's as phony as it is condescending.

THis is the kind of film that really surprises you with it's warmth, balance, humor, and maturity. A really balanced script that allows everyone to show their stuff. I bought this DVD because I think I've lost my head over Milla Jovovich, because of her performance on The Fifth Element, and wanted to see what else she has done. This is the one to check out...as her performance in Zoolander is just a comic book character..(Not her fault..written that way) and the noir film she did with Sam Jackson called No Good Deed, doesn't allow her to shine...the director keeps all in a subdued space, and Milla listens to her directors...however, one should see No Good Deed, for Mill'as closeup in the street with her made bank boyfriend, as there is a wonderful open light on her as she kisses him, while wearing a robe with a towel in her hair, and the way her green eyes shine for that small moment, is a real keeper. Oh yeah, this is a review of Dummy. Just get this perfectly formed diamond of a comedy...Adrian is great, and has also learned to be a ventriloquist and has great scenes with his little wooden friend. Milla plays his completely opposite punked/rocked out buddy, and she nails the part. (Favorite scene is Milla scratching her butt while giving Adrian grief about his life. Check out Milla's great web site, too. She's open generous, friendly, literate, talented, walks her dogs, writes great songs, gets overproduced sometimes, but maybe that's because there is an international audience out there for her, and reverb and echo are still popular in Europe and South America more than the states....I wish her all the best...and the whole group behind Dummy...a film I was easily able to watch three times in one week with three different friends... Andre in S.F. Milla..Milla...."Diving Up"

Greg Pritikin's "Dummy" kept reminding us about another film, "Napoleon Dynamite", in that both heroes of the films are kind souls that stick like sore thumbs in a society and films that are dominated by jerks and bullies. "Dummy" presents a family that doesn't appear to be too functional. Although there is a lack of eccentricity, Steven, is deemed too odd, by his sister, or the people he comes in contact with. Steven is a good soul trying to come to terms with life, in general. By deciding to become a ventriloquist, his inner self gets an outlet for expressing how he feels, but few, including his foul-mouthed friend, Fangora, understands him.When he meets the beautiful Lorena, who has processed his unemployment claim, Steven begins to chance and come out of his shell because of what he feels for the young woman who has had a hard life herself and is in need of a kind soul like Steven.The film will conquer anyone's heart because of the appealing performance of Adrien Brody. Vera Farmiga, as Lorena, fills the screen with her beauty and her common sense. Milla Jovovich is Fangora, the well intentioned friend with a motor mouth and a vocabulary to match. Ileana Douglas, Jessica Walter and Ron Leibman are seen as Steve's sister and parents respectively.No doubt Greg Pritikin will go to bigger and better things, but he is to be commended for creating a character of Steve, something one doesn't get to see much in the American cinema.