Stephen Belber

Match

First Hit:  Because Patrick Stewart is so much better than rest of cast the film comes off very uneven.

Stewart playing a former ballet star and current Juilliard ballet professor named Tobi Powell is being interviewed by Lisa (Carla Gugino) and her husband Mike (Matthew Lillard) under the guise of a dissertation on the history of dance in New York City in the 1960’s.

As the interview proceeds it is clear this isn’t historical research on dance but of something else. Most all of the film takes place in Powell’s apartment. This means that the dialogue and acting must be crisp, meaningful and dynamically interesting.

Unfortunately the actors are not well matched and therefore this film becomes uneven quickly. Only Stewart seems to get the importance of making the dialogue dynamic.

Stewart is the standout in this film. Gugino is OK but doesn’t bring enough to her role to make it work. Lillard makes attempts to match Stewart’s level but I think the script falls a little short. Stephen Belber both wrote and directed this film. From a scripting point of view the idea is a good one but the unevenness of the script and execution by the actors brings down this film.

Overall:  In the end this film fell a little flat.

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