Suckers - A Review

Happy Birthday, Paul Reubens!

I've gotten my days and nights swapped around and now they're coming back together to swap around again. It happens every few weeks: I'm up all night once, then it becomes habit and I sleep days for a while, then I end up coming back around again. Circadian rhythms and such. I don't fight it.

But, there are some advantages to being up overnight: it's cool, it's quiet and peaceful, you can soak in the deep blues of the dawn before they give way to the loud yellows and reds of daybreak.

Or so I've heard, cuz overnight is when they show better television.

I caught Suckers completely by accident. My plan was to stay up and see Sci-Fi's new movie, Dragon Sword, with Patrick Swayze and Michael Clark Duncan, but I slept through it both times (I caught the very ending and it was pretty good, so I'll be looking for it to come on again). So, when I got up, there was nothing on and I came across Suckers surfing channels.

The whole thing revolves around a car dealership and an honest man who is coerced into working there by his wife, who is a receptionist. It's a car dealership, so they're about the only honest ones around. Suckers is a dark comedy and, while it was made in 1999 and has that "grungy," hardnosed edge common to similar movies of the same period, it's really well put-together and truly funny (unlike, say, Very Bad Things), in the talking heads fashion of Clerks. Sorry, but I've sat through one too many 90's movies, and on IFC, they come in two distinct flavors:

1. The Quirky Comedy: Featuring the family who has their ups and downs, and the overwhelmingly flawed (all the better to relate to) characters -- strong, but fragile (aren't we all?) -- commonly set in the small-town Down South or Mid West, or the Big City Up North.

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2. The Dark Commercial: Fast and funny and debauched, but it's not the lead's fault -- he's really a good guy who just caught-up in the whole thing (just like you or me!) but he's forced to do something bad, but then all the bad guys get it in the end. And even if Our Lead is a little worse for the wear, at least he's alive and he learned a hard, but valuable, lesson. Eat your vegetables, kids!

Along these lines, the ultimate "90s movie" is the Coen Brothers' Fargo, which masterfully incorporates both styles, but like everything the Coens' do, it was on a completely different level; the Coen Brothers' work is tragi-comic, where most of the other fare is just dramedy or "hard-edged" moral tale.

And this is where Suckers surprises, because even though it's solidly in the second category, it has the passion and inspiration of a Fargo.

The acting is superb. So good, in fact, that you overlook the grainy quality of the film and the fact that you have a good idea of what's going to happen from the start. Most independent films have financial limitations (see the IFC's new sit-com, The Business), so they have that grainy look, but a lot of films tried to affect that look just to get that "indie" feel. And the end is no real surprise, but the writing and acting is so good, that you're completely hoooked by that point.

The writing is crisp and real, even if the plot and characters seem a bit trite. It has an impressive, cinema-veritae feel due to the dialogue, but the cinematography is openly stylized -- like a Scorcese flick. The language and characters are very coarse, and if you happen to catch John Landis' (of Animal House and An American Werewolf in London fame) documentary, Slasher (about a snake-oil car salesman working a show in Memphis, TN), you'll appreciate just how close to real life this movie is. That's how Suckers works on every level: it goes right to the edge, but not over the top.

The cinematography is most impressive in the mid-shots of one-on-one character encounters, when it takes a static, unintrusive method which actually escalates the realism because, at times, the characters seem a bit cartoonish. The "calm before the storm" feeling. The best thing about this film is the editing, but the directorial talent really shines through in the camera work when you break down each scene. It has some long takes.

It's well-crafted on all levels and incredibly engaging. It catches you very early on and doesn't let go. A lot of the characters are stereotypes, but the cast is pretty large, and the writing and acting take your mind off that. Oh, and it's got the hot chick from Full House -- not the twins! -- Jesse's girlfriend/wife.

Check out IFC.com for schedule and more information and try to catch this one.