This must be the second in that inspiring trilogy of paranoia, The Constant Conspiracies. Following the never-to-be remembered Constant Gardener, this one, which I will rename The Constant Gusher, is an improvement, barely
but then, what wouldn't be? The color is better, the camera work less jerky, the acting adequate, and this one actually involves a little suspense. Unfortunately, it also mimics the faults of its predecessor while adding a few new ones of its own. Back by popular demand are the schizophrenic suspicions regarding big business, this time substituting noxious, evil oil for poisonous drugs, but retaining that lovable quality of total ignorance of how real world markets function. There was a rumor that Clooney added a 30 pound "pawnch" as a metaphor for the way his character was manipulated like an innocent servile chess pawn, but I think he just likes to eat a lot. This movie is also a primer on the pitfalls of a contrived murky plot line, one of which is that those few in the audience who can follow it cannot hear the dialogue over the rest of the audience's repeated whispers of "whose side is he on?" and "is he a good guy or a bad guy?" If the storyboard lacked clarity, the moral was less than subtle; bad brother likes Americans, good brother doesn't, bad Americans blow up good brother, getting rotund George as an unexpected twofer bonus. Fortunately, the screenwriter never gave us a chance to invest in any of these characters sufficiently to care about any of this, so this film gets a five as a bungled attempt at both entertainment and persuasive propaganda. I can hardly wait for the next one. Will it be The Constant Shopper, exposing Wal-Mart's wicked scheme to promote capitalism and take over the world? Or The Constant Guzzler, revealing the malicious SUV conspiracy of the automakers to end the world through global warming? When Hollywood delves into politics, it is nothing if not predictable. Don't you just love it?
