For years I've watched Project Greenlight try to catch lightening in a bottle. Looking for that Rocky, or Goodwill Hunting they've kissed a lot of frogs. While this is far from a great film, it's certainly not a bad one. And for a first time writer/ director it's actually pretty good. I mean even Altman made Dr T and the Women, and this is certainly better than that. In the past 20 years I could count on one hand the smart satires given any sort of wide release. With Project Greenlight, a whole lot of people who have a lot of money and influence read this script, met the reluctant director, and greenlit the movie. So what can I compare this to, while it's really not a comedy, it really is pure satire. Only a few movies come to mind, but I'll choose one and say it compares favorably to The Object of Beauty. The 1991 Michael Lindsay-Hogg film staring John Malkovich, and Andie McDowell was billed as a "romantic comedy" even though there wasn't really anything funny about it. That story followed a couple running up credit accounts in Europe's most expensive hot spots while waiting for a risky business venture to pay off. Just like Leisure Class, the male lead was essentially a fraud, but hid in plain sight, and his seemingly hapless girlfriend just went along for the ride. That film won the coveted two-thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert, and the story did work a little better than this one, but not that much better. We don't attempt films like this anymore, it was brave, true to it's own nature, and very well shot, scored, and edited. All of this created a backdrop that allowed Bruce Davidson to show all his talents on the screen. If Woody Allen had been forced to pay all his actors scale, had a shooting schedule, and budget like this one, Crimes and Misdermeanors might not have been any better. Of course it's impossible not to consider the eight hours of backstory we all saw prior to this finished product. And I think it's appropriate for the viewer to consider it. This film on it's own was not especially entertaining, but it was a good piece of art from a first time director with a lot of talent, let's hope someone has the vision to let us see more of him.
Review of The Leisure Class
