law and order Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Above: Rainn Wilson lets his hair down for The Rocker.

Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice. In the movie, directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Grown Monty), Wilson plays a grown-up dolt named Fish with a scary fixation on classic rock. Abandoned by the band Vesuvius in his teens -- before they became a commercial phenomenon -- Fish spends the next twenty years working deadbeat jobs and wishing things happened differently. Naturally, he gets a second chance: When the opportunity rolls around to drum for his nephew's high school, Fish goes for it. Ageism and slapstick humor ensue.

While not exactly a classic, The Rocker proves Wilson has the charisma to carry a movie. The script could use some polishing, but Wilson manages to play a completely dysfunctional human being without ever becoming an annoyance. It's a testament to his skill as an actor with calculated timing. The humor emerges from the naturalism of his performances, which make you believe in the outlandish characters he portrays. In a conversation with Cinematical recently, Wilson elaborated on his particular strategies as his career advances, reminisced about his days as a New York theater actor, and shed some light on a few upcoming projects.

Whereas the November murder of actress/director Adrienne Shelly left much of the indie film community in shock, it left the producers of Law and Order with a perfect ripped-from-the-headlines storyline for February sweeps. An episode based on the incident premieres tonight on NBC, and from the looks of things, it bears quite a bit more than a passing resemblance to the actual tale. In it, detectives Green and Cassady (played by Jesse L. Martin and Milena Govich) investigate what appears to be the suicide of an actress/director; after finding a mysterious footprint near the body, they follow the trail of an undocumented construction worker who was seen arguing with the actress days before her death.

In a long story that appeared in last Sunday's New York Times describing the birth of the episode, L&O producer Dick Wolf explained that he and his producers were looking for a way to work off of Shelly's death as soon as they heard the news. At that point, the case was front-page fodder for New York City's tabloids; the New York Post, in particular, couldn't pass up the chance to exploit the illegal immigration angle provided by the fact that Shelly's apparent killer was an undocumented worker. Though the NYT story is careful not to parcel out any spoilers, it hints that the episode will examine the paranoia surrounding the immigration debate by setting two illegal alien suspects against "the 22-year-old ne'er-do-well American-born son of their employer."

One person unlikely to watch tonight's episode is Adrienne Shelly's widower, Andrew Ostrow, who refused to comment for the NYT story. Wolf and his colleagues insist they're not out to exploit Shelly, but it's hard to see this as the most noble of undertakings. What about you -- does this strike you as 'appointment' television?

The Night Listener is a Hitchcockian version of Shattered Glass, the story of what happens when sketchy journalism and mental instability collide. Robin Williams plays a pretentious NPR storyteller (think: Ira Glass of This American Life) who is introduced by telephone, by his publisher/agent, to a gifted young novelist named Pete.

Peter, played by Rory Culkin, has escaped a life of pornographic pedophilia imposed on him by his parents (in their basement studio), to complete the great American novel. However, he is now dying from AIDS (apparently from being raped by straight men during the making of pornos) and his dying wish is to have his story published. Given the recent "Frey" around fictionalized biographies, the story is timely.

Williams' character Gabriel, recently shaken by a breakup with his HIV-positive lover, develops a deep phone relationship with the budding novelist and his adoptive mother Donna, played by Toni Collette (who is also featured in the Sundance '06 selection Little Miss Sunshine).

As the story unfolds Gabriel starts to doubt the authenticity of Pete--and his mother's--claims. Gabriel is forced to look inward as well, knowing that he has taken many liberties in his storied, storytelling career. As you can guess, it's not enough for our protagonist to just wonder if he's being duped. Nope, he's got to hit the road and travel to Wisconsin to get to the bottom of this mystery. Cold landscapes, dank basements, dark shadows, and other creepy devices ensue.

At 90 minutes the film has a nice, suspenseful pace, and doesn't go for the cheap thrill. The tension is built while we try to understand the psychosis. Based on the book by Armistead Maupin, the story includes plenty of plot twists. Highly recommended for those who like intelligent thrillers--or Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Others on The Night Listener: Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter was intrigued by the film, which he says "bristles with intriguing thoughts about the realm of fiction, how one loves, [and] issues of identity...". Our own James Rocchi was also impressed, calling the film "a strand of story strung out into the dark, coaxing us along as it unravels and leading us to think about who we are." Variety's David Rooney, however, was less interested in a work he calls "tediously solemn," and totally lacking "tension or dramatic structure."