Rating:
Director: Jesse Peretz
Producer: Scott Macaulay, Robin O'Hara
Writer: Jesse Peretz, Thomas Bidegain
Director of Photography: Tom Richmond
Cast: Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Donal Logue, Sylvie Testud
Visit the IMDB Page for full cast and crew
| THE CHATEAU Rating: Director: Jesse Peretz Producer: Scott Macaulay, Robin O'Hara Writer: Jesse Peretz, Thomas Bidegain Director of Photography: Tom Richmond Cast: Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Donal Logue, Sylvie Testud Visit the IMDB Page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Kim
Justice
9/02/02
I like movies. In fact, I really love them. I love them so much that I'm filled with glee when a movie tops the two-hour mark. I practically lapse into a happiness-triggered coma when the running time is three hours or more. So when I write here that The Chateau, at a whopping 91 minutes, is too long, my movie-loving soul bleeds to do it. After seeing the trailer a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by its premise and excited about it's biggest star, Paul Rudd. So, when opportunity knocked, and my bank account was able to answer, I headed to the theater to catch it. The beginning and most of the middle delivered the enjoyment I'd ordered with my paid ticket, but it took so long to get to the end that I didn't really care what happened, just that the characters stopped talking.
The Chateau tells the story of two American brothers, Graham and Allen Granville (Rudd and Romany Malco respectively), who inherit a castle in France from a Great Uncle they never knew, as well as the staff living in it. When they arrive, the brothers learn that the servants are none too thrilled to be under new management and the castle is drowning in debt. Oh, and their French leaves a lot to be desired, which does account for some of the film's funniest moments, thanks to Rudd's fantastic comedic abilities.
They quickly realize that selling the castle is their only option, but every time an interested buyer comes to see the place, the staff does all it can to deter them by pointing out the many needed repairs, chasing chickens through the hallways, and screaming at the top of their lungs. Finally, when a buyer is found (Donal Logue doing the Annoying Hollywood Guy thing) the Granville boys decide not to sell at all and head home for America, for reasons you'd have to see the movie to understand.
Sounds like it would fly by, doesn't it? Unfortunately, there's so much talking going on that most scenes are simply too long while others should simply have been cut. Of course, it's hard to cut time from a feature that comes in at barely an hour and a half anyway. The love subplot involving the maid Isabelle (Sylvie Testud) seems like a wasted investment in the end, but so does a lot of what wound up on the screen. The look of the picture is pretty grainy, but that's not totally unexpected from an independent feature, so it's easy to overlook. Unfortunately, so is most of the dialogue.
Despite it all, both of the Granville brothers are well drawn and well acted. The servants are less distinct, less quirky, but not at all unentertaining. Graham Granville is an overwhelmingly likeable character, but even he wears on the nerves after a while. Malco's character, the Los Angeles-based, money-making brother with his own Internet business, looks like the total dick he is next to the simple French folk who inhabit the castle. In fact, I kind of left the film hating Americans and cheering for the French, which is completely ass-backwards from the way feature films have made me feel in the past (see Monty Python and the Holy Grail).
In truth, The Chateau is not about
its namesake but instead about the clashing of two cultures with
different ideas about family and home. It's actually an incredibly
deep and fascinating subject, but the plot devices used to discuss
it fall terribly short of their goal. The first forty-five minutes
are worth the price of a matinee admission, so I'd still suggest
you check it out. I just hope you like the spoken word... a lot.
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