Roger Dodger (2002)

Admirable film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Would anyone love a person like Roger Swanson (Scott)? A good-looking New-Yorker, a latter-day Casanova, who can elaborate on the imminent obsolescence of male gender due to the accelerating diminution of its utility, during his working lunch with the presence of his co-workers and their boss Joyce (Rossellini), a woman significantly older than him and whom he has been seeing secretively for quite a long time, he is her "boy".But right in that night, Joyce unilaterally decides to sever their casual affair, Roger doesn't even have his say in it, but at least, the break-up sex is still on the table, so he takes it with a grudge. In a bar, Roger's patronising act to persuade a young girl (Baccani) from putting out to a man whom he claims to a "bad news" to her doesn't pan out like he wants, because ironically, he is also a "bad news" himself and a total stranger, any girl with a good sense of judgement would not let him get what he wants; later he lets loose his frustration by pretentiously derides a much older woman (Emery), who is waiting for her finance alone in the bar, unfortunately sitting next to him.So, the consensus is that we don't like Roger, and no one should, sharp-witted and cerebral, maybe, but he is a callous cad, through and through. However, in the eyes of his nephew, Nick (Eisenberg), who arrives unannounced from Ohio, Roger is a lady's man who proclaims that he can score every night if he wants. Meanwhile, Roger thrills to play his utilitarian role as his wingman once he finds out Nick is a 16-year-old virgin andThe coaching session starts on the sidewalk, by talking, and the gist is that "sex is everywhere", here, the hand-held camera employment from the first-time director Dylan Kidd, a tactic has shown great pragmatism and advantage in its intrusive manner under dialogue-laden, interior- located contexts, causes a somehow fluid and distracting effect al fresco, which trivialises the conversation, however, once the pair plunges into the (retrospectively speaking) three-steps mission to make Nick score that night: hooking-up-ladies-in-the-bar, gatecrashing-a-party and ultimately, the "fail-safe" adventure in a seedy whorehouse, the film becomes unstoppable, accurately captures the nitty-gritty in the metropolitan dating sphere, deceitful, desperate and destructive.A Manichaean strategy to juxtapose an impressionable virgin with a cynical playboy works its way to be beneficial to both parties, Nick, seals his first kiss with an amiable, mature and attractive Sophie (Beals), and sees the vulnerability of a maudlin Donna (Badie), Roger's colleague in the party which Joyce organises and Roger is not invited, and sensibly chooses not to take advantage of her. Roger, however, immersed in his own misery after being cheaply dumped, unexpectedly receives a wake-up call which is just in time for him to rescue Nick from losing his virginity in the most vacuous and crudest way.Scott supremely nails Roger's character as a rapid-fire and eloquent orator edifying his "inconvenient truth" about men and women - some are not truth per se, merely bravado only to sound smart. But Mr. Scott also excavates much deeper under Roger's vain front, he bespeaks a seething soul who has nothing in his grip, who is disheartened by superficiality of the man-woman interrelationship, and the fact that he is constantly under-appreciated for being outspoken about it, yes, that's THE inconvenient truth, if you don't play along with the rule, you are excluded.The film is also Jesse Eisenberg's screen debut, incredibly, his trademark tic of being self- conscious and out-of-the-place has already been honed up to a full blossom. Jennifer Beals and Elizabeth Berkley, make up the pair of the opposite sex as two bar frequenters-cum-friends, Sophie and Andrea, the quartet's breeze-shooting convo is strangely magnetic, both actresses are at the top of their games of being spontaneous and unfeigned, plus Beals beams with warmth in initiating that first kiss!Finishing the movie with a flourish of lacuna, ROGER DODGER resonates pretty well as a snappy and honest take on urban philosophy, a US indie curio with a wider appeal than it seems to have.

Saw this one with a friend, knew close to nothing about it. It starts out pretty bad. The opening scene is not good. The acting was close to embarrassing to watch, did not seem real at all. Almost cringe worthy. It's not that it's horrible, but it misses the mark, and in this type of movie, that's a disaster.It does get a little better, but I did not like some of the performances by the main cast. Rossellini? Not good at all.What saves this movie is Jesse Eisenberg, basically. And some of the "theories" and speeches given by Roger himself. There are some pretty good life lessons here! But the cinematography and general look of the movie I did not like. Looks cheap and sort of amateurish.when you get into it, there are some pretty good parts, and Mr. Eisenberg adds a lot. If the problems with the movie had been fixed, it would be a lot better.

This is one of very few movies that I've gave up on about 10 minutes in... First of all, like some other's have mentioned, the shaky camera makes you feel like you've been stuck on a small sailboat in the middle of the ocean for about two weeks... Second of all... I have no idea how this movie gets any rating above a 1... They call this comedy, but this movie is about as boring as Ben Stein hosting the Sunday Night Sex Show...Whoever laughed once during this movie must have a some good drug dealers cause I can't even find mushrooms that good... The only way you'll get any real entertainment out of watching this movie is by putting it in the microwave for 10 minutes on high!!!

Meet Roger Swanson, the world's most arrogant and chauvinistic SOB. To him, women are inferior and are to be regarded as conquests. Yet as appalling and thoroughly unlikable as Roger is, he's played by Campbell Scott, who's so good that he makes Roger a person who is quite literally addicting to watch.After getting dumped by his boss, Joyce (Isabella Rossellini), the ultimate player Roger is more than a little peeved. But when his nephew shows up at his office asking for advice on women, Roger takes it upon himself to show the 16 year old how to be the ultimate womanizer.Needless to say, this film is about Roger. Unless the performance was pitch-perfect, the film would fall flat on its face. Fortunately, indie-film king Campbell Scott is playing him. Campbell Scott is dynamite. With a razor-sharp wit and an arsenal of one-liners, pick-up lines and other assorted ways of getting sex, Roger is compulsively watchable. There's really not much that he says that hasn't been said before, but Scott is so stunning that it doesn't matter. His dialogue is electric, and Scott attacks it with relish. Yet as darkly funny as some of the things he says are, Scott understands all facets of Roger. His scenes with Joyce are some of the most telling about Roger, and arguably some of his most well-acted. He still has the same penchant for one-liners and shocking views on women, but Scott delivers it with anger and frustration.His co-stars are great as well. Jesse Eisenberg is terrific as his nervous nephew, Nick. He's young and naiive, and Roger is more than happy to enlighten him. Their two targets, Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and Sophie (Jennifer Beals) are terrific. Both are gorgeous, and are totally into Nick (and to his surprise, not the least bit into Roger). Andrea has a wit to match Roger's, while Sophie is nice and falls for Nick. Isabella Rossellini is also solid as Joyce, Roger's boss, who is more than a little annoyed with him when he won't let their affair end.Dylan Kidd has a terrific script. Unfortunately, this was shot on a hand-held camera, which is not the way to shoot it. However, this was probably due to budget constraints. The only scene that doesn't work is the final one. It's out of character for Roger, and thus rings false.Yet this film is all Campbell Scott. The cast and script may help, but this is his movie. And Campbell Scott is unforgettable in a performance that in a perfect world, would have garnered him an Oscar. We can only hope that in the future the prestigious award will finally come his way.