| THANK YOU, GOOD NIGHT Rating:  Director: Chuck Griffith Writers: Chris Provenzano, Robert Zimmer, Jr. Producers: Scott Burkhardt, Brandon Lyons, Inmen Young, Robert Zimmer, Jr. Director of Photography: Matthew Irving Cast: Christian Campbell, Lara Boyd Rhodes, John Paul Pitoc, Scott Burkhardt Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Ryan
Kugler
7/14/02
Here's another in a long line of recent films I've seen (including Cherish and CQ) that isn't really sure what it wants to be. Thank You, Good Night tries at the same time to be both a raunchy sex comedy and an inspirational drama about achieving your dreams, but isn't nearly funny enough for the first or dramatic and compelling enough for the second. I found some of it to be mildly amusing and I enjoyed a couple of the performances, but overall, this is strictly amateur hour.
The Handy Kaufmans (is that supposed to
be funny?) are an up-and-coming rock group (think grunge mixed
with Matchbox 20) trying to make a name for themselves in their
hometown of New Jersey. The time is 1994, just after the tragic
suicide of Kurt Cobain.
Lee (Christian Campbell) is the drummer with problems on the homefront,
Trixie (Lara Boyd Rhodes) is the new bass player hired after the
original got drunk on stage, urinated on an amp and blew it and
himself up (in a funny sight gag), Mike (Scott Burkhardt) is the
guitarist and true artist of the band dabbling in drugs to help
find his voice and Donnie (John Paul Pitoc) is the singer and
would-be lady-killer, who wants nothing more than to get laid.
They're managed by former high school friend Big Frank (Jay Leggett),
an obese and obnoxious, but loving and caring guy who has more
hope in them than they have in themselves.
The majority of the film covers a road trip the band embarks on that leads them to several different cities and gigs, ending in a show at a state fair, that a major label representative is supposed to attend. During this tour, love blossoms between Lee and Trixie, drugs become a big factor for Mike, Donnie tries to pick-up and bed as many women as possible and Frank has to put up with all of their shenanigans. The venues they're playing aren't exactly what they had in mind, and it isn't helping the morale of the band who, on several occasions, come close to calling it quits.
Director Chuck Griffith and his cast and crew try the best they can with their limited resources, but it's a no-win situation. They have an especially hard time with the unconvincing concert sequences. A handful of extras never for once made me believe that these guys were playing in front of a group any larger than ten. This is especially true during their final gig at the fair, where I assume there would be more people present than what we're shown. Another problem is that the concert sequences all have a fake look about them and took me out of the experience.
Most of the characters are cliched and one-dimensional but I did like Lee and Trixie. Campbell (brother of Neve) and Rhodes are on a completely different level than the rest of the cast and their scenes together looked like they came from a different film. I'd like to see what these actors could do with better material. There were also some welcome cameos from Sally Kirkland and Mark Hamil (a funny performance, especially when he dons a "Sid Lives" shirt at the fair) as Lee's parents and Nicole Eggert as Frankie's ex-girlfriend who hooks up with Donnie when the band is forced to crash at her place.
It's tough to make a convincing film about the struggles of a rock band unless you have a witty and original script as well as a fine group of actors who you can invest in and make music worth listening to (as Hedwig and the Angry Inch proved). The filmmakers of Thank You, Good Night clearly had their hearts in the right place, and I appreciate the enthusiasm that they bring to the material, but the execution is pretty weak.
(Screened at the 2002 Dances With Film
Festival)
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