Sundance Review: The Go-Getter
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Romance, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie
It's a cliché that every avant-garde becomes an establishment -- but it's a cliché because it's true. When I refer to The Go-Getter, written and directed by Martin Hynes, as 'a Sundance film,' that's not because it represents the bold, the intimate, the personal and exciting; I call it 'a Sundance film' for the same reason grocery stores slap the most simple label on a generic product. Let's run through the elements -- and if it sounds like I'm going down a checklist, that's simply due to the fact that that's pretty much what Hynes does. A wounded, boy-man protagonist, played by a cute-yet-soulful actor (in this case, Lou Taylor Pucci) impulsively takes a long-distance road trip; along the way, he meets a variety of quirky characters played by big-name actors taking a break from better-paying jobs (Bill Duke, Jena Malone, Maura Tierney and more) and learns a lot about himself.
There's a threat of violence in the air, plus some minor crime -- our hangdog, haunted hipster hero has stolen the car he'll need for his voyage of inner discovery, and the owner of the car just happens to be a sassy, plucky, life-affirming sprite (played by Zooey Deschanel) who does not call the cops, but, rather, begins a flirty phone conversation with the person who jacked her ride, because she's a little crazy and a little sad and has been -- jeepers -- just waiting for someone like our hero to enter her life. Oh, and there's an ace soundtrack from a rocking indie artist, too! And dream sequences! And wacky tricks with a video camera!
Along the way, there's scenery and clumsy metaphors (our heroine has a Western novel on-tape in her car, Duke's traveling salesman wears a cowboy hat, the stereo twangs with Country music) and, you know, personal growth. This isn't filmmaking any more than unpacking an Ikea box and busting out the Allen key is to making furniture. It also doesn't help that both actors have played roles similar to these before; Deschanel is another plucky, life-affirming sprite in this year's Sundance entry The Good Life, while Pucci also played the all-American boy on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the far superior film Thumbsucker. (Not to sound too judgmental, but at a certain point, some actors hang around Sundance the way Dazed and Confused's Wooderson hung around high school long after graduation, pathetic and a little sad and a touch creepy -- can't Principal Redford kick them off the property?)
A charitable observer would suggest that the flurry of so-called independent films where a bright, neurotic stand-in for the (male) writer-director finds love with a special, super-pretty snowflake of a girl represents our shared yearning for love and belonging; a more cynical one would suggest that this is the sort of self-pleasing fantasy that feels like it was typed one-handed because the not-that-creative creator was using the other to pat himself on the back or do other things to other body parts. The Go-Getter is a nearly perfect demonstration of what happens when what was once a frontier for exploration becomes a factory floor for repetition.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-27-2007 @ 6:58AM
Richard von Busack said...
I blame J. D. Salinger.
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1-29-2007 @ 9:28PM
Nate said...
I loved this film. Best I saw at Sundance. I thought it was able to avoid cliche despite having some familiar elements.
Don't let James fool you. This is a moving film.
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