Park (2006)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Kurt Voelker

Writer (WGA):

Kurt Voelker (written by)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

10 people, 5 cars, 1 day...only in L.A.

Plot:

Park takes place all in one day in a public park in Los Angeles, as 11 disaffected Angelenos find both love and loss in unexpected ways.

Plot Keywords:

Mask | Lesbian | Co Worker | Sexless Marriage | Divorce

Awards:

3 wins

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Oct. 13	11:00 AM	SHOW
Thur. Oct. 16	10:00 AM	SHOW
Tue. Oct. 21	11:15 AM	SHOW

Cast

Dagney Kerr	...	April
Tank	...	Dog
Vincent Riverside	...	Rocker Dad
Ian Shelley	...	Boy
David Fenner	...	Ian
Izabella Miko	...	Krysta
Hakan Kizilocak	...	Mr. Habib
Trent Ford	...	Nathan
Maulik Pancholy	...	Babar
Anne Dudek	...	Meredith
Melanie Lynskey	...	Sheryl
William Baldwin	...	Dennis
Cheri Oteri	...	Claire
Ricki Lake	...	Peggy
Angela Bozarth	...	Jogger

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, language and some drug use.

Runtime:

USA:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hollywood Intermediate

Soundtrack:

Let's Never Stop Falling in Love

Unworthy of Anyone's Time, Money or Mental Effort

I saw Park on DVD tonight. While at first I was simply unimpressed, by the time the first act of the film was through, I was frustrated and perplexed.

None of the actors had any real chemistry with one another, and they did a poor job of delivering their dialog. WHich is unfortunate, considering that it is written like a TV commercial or a mediocre student film.

The plot lines are simple, and free of any complexity. Any of the five stories could fill a five minute short without strain, but 86 minute (about 17 minutes apiece) is pushing it.

The editing is weak (and only great boredom leads to a person considering the editing of a film). The entire film is contained to a single setting, and yet the transitions between scenes that are cut into each other is jumpy and awkward.

The director seems to have no sense of how to shoot a film. This, also, is an observation that derives from boredom. While none of the individual shots are badly photographed, they are poorly timed and unimaginative, failing to give the mediocre script a much-needed boost.

But beyond technical issues the underlying flaw of the film is this: I didn't care about any of the people in it. I was not pulled in by their words, their stories, or the actors' performances. And likable and/or interesting characters are all a movie like this has to offer, and all the audience really asks for.

This movie never should have been made.