Watch This: Ever See Gary Oldman, Little Person?
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Trailers and Clips
One day I was strolling alongside bins of super-cheap used DVDs when I spotted Gary Oldman's face. The DVD in question: Tiptoes, directed by the writer/director of Freeway, Matthew Bright. Naturally, I picked it up, wondering how I'd never heard of this movie before. I flipped it over, and started reading:
No couple could be more in love than Steven (Matthew McConaughey) and Carol (Kate Beckinsale). But Steven has a little secret he's been keeping to himself. He has a twin brother (Gary Oldman), who just happens to be a dwarf. In fact, with the exception of Steven, his entire family is made up of little people.
Oldman as a dwarf? There was no way I could refuse such a thing, and rushed home to watch it. As the below trailer shows, this is far from a stellar movie, even if they say the film is filled with "command performances" and that Oldman is in the "role of a lifetime." Oh, the humor of false superlatives. Sure, Oldman does a decent job tackling the part, but better than Immortal Beloved? Romeo is Bleeding? The Professional? Pshaw. I love the man, but a grown man on his knees does not a little person make.
Our Eric D. Snider summed it up perfectly. It's "a movie that's stilted and awkward -- not altogether boring, I must say, because there's a certain trainwreck curiosity about it, but not recommendable, either. It's a barely watchable experiment gone awry." Still, a trainwreck is good every once in a while. Any of you in Cinematicaland ever see it?
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-01-2009 @ 12:00PM
Matt said...
What did you expect from a Matthew McConaughey movie?
Reply
5-01-2009 @ 12:17PM
Eric Havens said...
Saw it for the same reason it caught your attention, I just had to see Gary Oldman. It's a forgettable movie with a little bit of an after school special feel. I wouldn't call it awful, but I don't think I'd recommend it either. Does that count as a review or is it more of a textual shoulder shrug?
Reply
5-01-2009 @ 12:21PM
jeff said...
1. How did they film it to make Gary Oldman look like a Dwarf?
2. What was with the awful narraration. OMG that guy was straight out of Lifetime Original Movie.
Reply
5-01-2009 @ 1:09PM
Monika said...
He walked on his knees. So he 'kinda' looked like a dwarf, but with realllly long arms.
5-01-2009 @ 12:42PM
Joe said...
Huh, I actually have this on DVD but haven't watched it yet. I guess I know what I'm watching Sunday night :)
Reply
5-01-2009 @ 1:11PM
MarkH said...
Holy crap, that looks awful. I think the only way that could look less awkward, would be if there were a black character they couldn't find the right black actor to fill, so they put a white actor in blackface.
Reply
5-01-2009 @ 1:55PM
Sean said...
In all the myriad ways this movie (which actually premiered at Sundance, mind you) goes wrong, the capper could be the post-coital scene between Peter Dinklage (sporting a French-Canadian accent) and Patricia Arquette. Oy!
Reply
5-03-2009 @ 8:13PM
Mashed Potatoes said...
that is hilarious!!!! Gary Oldman in a "role of a lifetime" WOW!
Reply
6-22-2009 @ 5:25PM
joe said...
It was not as atrocious as the trailer suggests. In that regard, I was a little disappointed--perhaps the first time I have ever kind of enjoyed a movie and been disappointed about that.
The movie does depart in an unexpected direction after Beckinsale has her kid. Peter Dinklage is less of a caricature than the trailer suggests, and Gary Oldman, you know, gets all Gary Oldman on your ass, so that's pretty cool. And the two full-sized leads have some decent acting.
That said, there are a handful of cringe-worth lines that might make you want to tune in if you want to rubberneck. Both are delivered by Beckinsale. Something to the effect of, "When were you going to tell me your whole family was a bunch of midgets." And my personal favorite, "You were in a circle jerk with a bunch of dwarfs? I'd like to see that." Also, at one point Beckinsale, who plays an artist, is wearing a ridiculous snowboarding hat, thereby nullifying anything serious that's come out of her mouth.
I regret to say that I give this movie 3 stars. That trailer, though, ought to be given a Razzie or something. So bad it's good.
Reply