PARK CITY, Utah -- James Spader stars as Cray Fowler, a charismatic, old-money smoothie who's running for Congress down there in good old Louisiana. He's a progressive liberal, in the Teddy Kennedy-Gary Hart mold and, similarly, he's got an eye for the fast lass.
While colorfully heaped with hot and spicy Louisiana-style decadence, "Storyville'' is also steeped with motivational inconsistency and preposterously incredible plot turns. At its world premiere here at the Sundance Film Festival, audience laughter at unintentionally funny moments was consistent.
Conscience-stricken about what he perceives as possibly shady business dealings in his family's past, most prominently the "suicide'' of his father on the eve of a federal investigation, young Cray is an earnest, progressive candidate for Congress.
Conscience-stricken about what he perceives as possibly shady business dealings in his family's past, most prominently the "suicide'' of his father on the eve of a federal investigation, young Cray is an earnest, progressive candidate for Congress.The election is particularly important to him, in part as a means of expiating the pangs of guilt he feels about his privileged background and the possible shenanigans of his father's oil dealings.
Running against a ruthless, racist redneck, Cray is phenomenally careless: A curvy waitress gives him her phone number at a fund-raiser and they get together down in Storyville, New Orleans' most bawdy-naughty section. On that sinister night, she leads him to her father's akido gym, disrobes and seduces him. Well, where there's sex and lies, there's also videotape, and the callow congressional candidate gets a blackmail threat pronto.
The noose tightens: The blackmailer who turns out to be the girl's father is killed and she's arrested. In the midst of his Congressional campaign, Cray decides to take her case, pro bono. It gets even screwier, including a shootout in court involving the judge. While screenwriter-director Mark Frost stirs up a lot of deliciously unsavory juices in this gumbo concoction, the film's many subplots are often strung together by the most implausible and awkward of contrivances.
Still, it's jazzed up considerably by the spicy performances, most prominently that of Spader as the cool and icy politico. Jon Robards is, as usual, a treat as a hard-drinking wheeler-dealer.
STORYVILLE
20th Century Fox
Producers Edward R. Pressman, David Roe
Screenwriter-director Mark Frost
Executive producers John Flock, John Davis
Co-executive producers Les Lithgow, George Zecevic
Director of photography Ron Garcia
Editor B.J. Sears
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Cray Fowler James Spader
Natalie Tate Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
Clifford Fowler Jason Robards
Constance Fowler Piper Laurie
Nathan Lefleur Michael Warren
Abe Choate Charles Haid
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
While colorfully heaped with hot and spicy Louisiana-style decadence, "Storyville'' is also steeped with motivational inconsistency and preposterously incredible plot turns. At its world premiere here at the Sundance Film Festival, audience laughter at unintentionally funny moments was consistent.
Conscience-stricken about what he perceives as possibly shady business dealings in his family's past, most prominently the "suicide'' of his father on the eve of a federal investigation, young Cray is an earnest, progressive candidate for Congress.
Conscience-stricken about what he perceives as possibly shady business dealings in his family's past, most prominently the "suicide'' of his father on the eve of a federal investigation, young Cray is an earnest, progressive candidate for Congress.The election is particularly important to him, in part as a means of expiating the pangs of guilt he feels about his privileged background and the possible shenanigans of his father's oil dealings.
Running against a ruthless, racist redneck, Cray is phenomenally careless: A curvy waitress gives him her phone number at a fund-raiser and they get together down in Storyville, New Orleans' most bawdy-naughty section. On that sinister night, she leads him to her father's akido gym, disrobes and seduces him. Well, where there's sex and lies, there's also videotape, and the callow congressional candidate gets a blackmail threat pronto.
The noose tightens: The blackmailer who turns out to be the girl's father is killed and she's arrested. In the midst of his Congressional campaign, Cray decides to take her case, pro bono. It gets even screwier, including a shootout in court involving the judge. While screenwriter-director Mark Frost stirs up a lot of deliciously unsavory juices in this gumbo concoction, the film's many subplots are often strung together by the most implausible and awkward of contrivances.
Still, it's jazzed up considerably by the spicy performances, most prominently that of Spader as the cool and icy politico. Jon Robards is, as usual, a treat as a hard-drinking wheeler-dealer.
STORYVILLE
20th Century Fox
Producers Edward R. Pressman, David Roe
Screenwriter-director Mark Frost
Executive producers John Flock, John Davis
Co-executive producers Les Lithgow, George Zecevic
Director of photography Ron Garcia
Editor B.J. Sears
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Cray Fowler James Spader
Natalie Tate Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
Clifford Fowler Jason Robards
Constance Fowler Piper Laurie
Nathan Lefleur Michael Warren
Abe Choate Charles Haid
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 1/24/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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