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Souler Opposite
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by Mti Home Video
Sales Rank: 70977
Price: $9.98
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Here's something we don't see enough of: a grown-up film about dating, commitment, and the niggling little fears that chip away at our best efforts. Christopher Meloni (TV's <I>Law and Order: SVU</I>) stars as Barry, a thirtysomething standup comic with a bitter, sexist act that inflames as many people as it amuses. When a leather clad biker gives his critique with fists, Thea (Janel Moloney of TV's <I>The West Wing</I>), a stable, sensible college student 10 years his junior, picks him up literally and figuratively. They're hardly a perfect match: age differences, lifestyle clashes, and sheer philosophical outlook seem to doom them from the outset. But hope lies in the words of a palm reader who declares them "souler opposites," in other words, made for each other. Meloni is excellent as an overgrown adolescent who struggles against his better nature and devolves into a glib teenager whenever he hangs out with his equally arrested high school buddy (Timothy Busfield), who fuels his act with more sexist, testosterone-powered rants on sex and women. Moloney gives dignity to her Thea's activism and never plays her new-age mellowness for laughs. She's playful, witty, smart, and just a bit impulsive. Director Bill Kalmenson manages to bring new life to the clichés such romantic comedies are built from by taking a look with a fresh eye. It's a sweetly modest, undeservingly overlooked film that still holds out hope for grown-up love. <I>--Sean Axmaker</I>
Viewer Reviews
Being a diehard Christopher Meloni fan, I enjoyed seeing something from his younger days as an actor (pre Oz and Law and Order:SVU). Meloni has a remarkably deft touch with comedy and it was interesting to see which of his signature touches he's retained in his later work and which (in particular an almost elfin boyish smile) he's dropped. As for the film itself, the first half is not bad, although it's difficult to understand exactly what Meloni's character sees in his leading lady other than her extravagant delight in offering him a particular sexual service that was at one time illegal in many states. But half way through, the whole thing just falls apart: scenes that appear to have nothing at all to do with the plot line (which pretty much disappears) or with each other are plunked down with no apparent narrative logic, characters make undeveloped and confusing personality changes, and -- a sure sign a film is in trouble -- there is an extended "travelogue" montage, in this case of a dismally rainy Washington, D.C., that does nothing to advance the story. As a result, the final resolution, while expected, rings decidedly untrue. If you're a Meloni fan, get this one at the video store or on NetFlix, don't buy it. As for Mr. Meloni, he proves he can be good in anyting, but he deserves (and has since gotten)far better material.
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Souler Opposite
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