8/27/98
We need Neil LaBute. We may not like it all that well, but we need him standing in front of us with his poison mirror, daring us to deny that we see ourselves in it. Not necessarily every day, but once in a while...
This picture, like last year's In The Company Of Men, is not what you would call "enjoyable" or "an entertainment." It has a handful of queasily comic moments, but the overall effect is to leave you feeling disturbed, even frightened. You can enjoy this picture, in the sense of appreciating what the filmmakers have acheived. The acheievement is to have put on the screen a portrait of real Human Beings in neurotic and failing relationships that is both believeable and affecting. This is something that has eluded Woody Allen for many years. You see, if Woody Allen were any good, we probably wouldn't need Neil LaBute, but as it is....we need Neil LaBute.