August 12, 2008

Mike Binder is a very odd filmmaker. As a multi-hyphenate who writes, directs, produces, and often stars in his own work, his output is small but variable in tone, and not all of his films manage to work because he often fumbles the final act.

The Sex Monster (1999) ends in a free-for-all of farcical, Blake Edwards shenanigans, whereas The Upside of Anger (2005) became tiresome when Binder switched back to the film’s Ice Storm plotting, and inserted a ridiculous shock-twist for the film’s matriarch. His early film, Indian Summer (1993), being thin and fluffy, still feels complete in spite of the neat closures for every squabble, jealous tit-for-tat exchange, and sexual headache.

Those who loathe Binder tend to find his dramas pinched and whiny, and his comedic writing ersatz Woody Allen, but he does know his strengths as a writer, director, and actor, and even the aforementioned films have strengths that less picky types can enjoy.

The Search for John Gissing actually stems from 2001, and makes its belated DVD release after a seven-year period of apparent limbo. The premise is sound and provides its cast with some very amusing moments and tirades: An American arbitrator (Binder) arrives in London with his beloved but quarrelsome wife (Janeane Garofalo), and they’re given a royal runaround of dead ends by jealous executive Gissing (Alan Rickman), an acrid and jealous foe determined to reclaim his position in a fragile set of negotiations with German investors.

Binder combines a bit of fish out of water humour (Binder and Garofalo going through some culture clashes during their first troublesome hours) with mistaken identity nonsense, and folds their entire conflict of nice guy versus English snot into an eventual team effort, whereby the former foes seek to embarrass and totally usurp the power of a snide upper executive and French prick (Allan Corduner). The insults are mid-level and low (minor bathroom humour, for example, soils a fine antique chaise), but Binder maintains an everyman demeanor, which makes his character the focal point amid the mounting farce.

Where the film’s plotting starts to fracture is when chance encounters – a filthy-mouthed German, a sneaky cabbie, the office cleaning guy – are corralled into participating in Binder and Rickman’s revenge plot, which involves impersonations and misinterpretations. Most of the gags are familiar and easygoing, but the film suddenly ends in a succession of fast edits, hasty narration, and facile happy endings with tacked on, un-amusing epilogues for each character before the end credits.

A deleted scenes montage on Anchor Bay’s DVD reveals many scenes that were gradually shorn near the end of the film’s first third, including a further tie-in to Garofalo’s love of tap dancing. The unused tap scene does offer some explanation as to why those chance encounters decide to help the two ex-foes, but it also involves a terrible tap dance with Garofalo and Sonya Walger (Lost’s Penny Widmore) that even stops the entire scene dead.

Walger does add some spice to the film, assisting Rickman by playing a fake Spanish nun, Sister Mary, who ferries Binder and Garofalo around London before billeting the pair at her home, and teasing Binder with her stunning physique and loose booby. (Donning a Spanish/Argentinean accent, she sings a suggestive serenade and evokes the delicious ethno-silliness of Teri Garr’s ersatz German babe in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.)

Binder’s dialogue is often quite funny, so while the finale is too quick and convenient, the first two-thirds offer some snide and ribald repartee, particularly from a punchy Garofalo.

© 2008 Mark R. Hasan