An older teen girl has a truck-stop clinch with a carnival clown after the fair sweeps through her town; after some persuasion from her lover (and some confounding need to be with him and these show-folk), she joins up with the freakish carnies. A first-rate example of atmosphere over plot, "Carny" is full of characters running around without really doing much; you would think the carny folk would be more than just suspicious of this new kid in their midst--they show no interest in her blonde ordinariness (wouldn't they be as curious of her as she is of them? And IS she curious about their pick-up-and-go lives? The way Jodie Foster plays her, she's just a bored teenager, fettered perhaps but vacuous). I didn't care for the 'plot' as it developed (sneaking in bits of clichéd suspense) nor did I care for Robbie Robertson (glum with heavy lids) as the carnival boss. This picture doesn't add up; it's queasy and awkward, and I felt these faults were absolutely deliberate. The movie is an indifferent freak show, a ghoulish blank. All the characters have false-fronts, but we never get to see what's underneath. The filmmakers seem undecided whom to direct the movie towards without ever consummating their own feelings for the theatrical critters crawling up and down the runways. ** from ****
Review of Carny
