| ROGER
DODGER Rating:   Director: Dylan Kidd Producers: Anne Chaisson, Dylan Kidd, George VanBuskirk Writer: Dylan Kidd Director of Photography: Joaquin Baca-Asay Cast: Campbell Scott, Isabella Rossellini, Jesse Eisenberg, Elizabeth Berkley Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Joseph
Campbell
10/04/02
Men will be endangered or altogether extinct within 20 generations due to the rapidly growing trend that sexual enjoyment in females is in no way dependent on the male genitalia. This is but one opinion in a long list of self-righteous convictions held by headstrong Roger Swanson, at one time nicknamed Roger Dodger by his father because "he could talk his way out of anything."
Writer/director Dylan Kidd deserves some serious credit for even thinking of such a character, who calls everything like he sees it, regardless of how skewed his view is, and Campbell Scott (Roger) should get acclaim for his onscreen portrayal of this fascinating would-be womanizer.
With Manhattan as his playground, Roger is a thirty-something advertising copywriter whose professional skill translates to an exceptional ability to bullshit while on the prowl in the New York night scene. Sarcasm and subtle insult are the tools he uses for career and social life because, as he sees it, you have to know how to make people feel bad before you can sell them something.
Roger is the kind of guy that will cut you down and then smile at you wryly as though you should appreciate it. Translation: he's an asshole. Fittingly enough, Roger's affair with his boss Joyce (Isabella Rossellini) is perfect evidence to himself that his fabricated charm can be successful. But alas, in the movies nothing is ever as it seems.
Along comes Roger's 16-year-old nephew, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), on a college visit to Columbia University. Picture the resulting scene: Supercilious and condescending uncle Roger, upset at his own increasingly obvious character flaws, takes out his frustrations on unassuming young Nicky, standing awkwardly in the crossroads of adolescent insecurity.
The formula is simple. Pit the aggressive, verbal acrobatics of a lonely philanderer against the impressionability of a fatherless teenager, who really wants to get laid. Give them a bustling Manhattan sidewalk in broad daylight as a backdrop, and voila! Engrossing small-budget filmmaking.
Predictably, both characters, whether they want to or not, learn something from the other, although Roger would probably never admit as much. For example, on several occasions Roger delineates the idea of "winning time" to his high school-imprisoned nephew. For those of you scratching your heads, winning time is, in this film, single guy speak for that point in the night where it is time to take what you can get and -- oh no, another single guy cliché -- "close the deal" with her. Known by other names in other social circles (my peer group called it "wrangling"), winning time definitely seems like a worthwhile lesson for a teenager to learn. And after all, nothing really reaches a man the way a sports metaphor does.
Quite naturally, you won't like Roger for his blunt arrogance, sleaziness and incessant chicanery, and guarded laughter is sure to be the norm for theatergoers witnessing his insensitive humor. But Roger's crude yet codified approach to picking up women makes for classic comedy.
If you are into binge drinking, smoking a lot of cigarettes, running your mouth over meaningless banter and chasing after members of the opposite sex (Is anyone not into doing these things?), or if you might like watching people who do these things, than you should see this movie. Oh, no wait, that was Swingers. But this is good too.
(An Artisan Entertainment release.
Opens in New York and Los Angeles on October 25. Expands to more
cities at later dates.)
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