Little City (1997)
Copyright
by the Doomster 2004
Rating (1 to 10) : 5
Summary: The story of six people in San Francisco, interconnected in current or past relationships.
The movie is about six people and their story goes like this: Adam is a struggling artist who drives taxis and used to go out with Kate but is now going out with Nina. Kevin is a recovering alcoholic who works as a bartender and is Adam’s friend. Nina is cheating on Adam with Kevin. Rebecca is a new woman in town and works with Kevin as a bartender. Kate is now going out with a lesbian Lothario named Anne but Anne seduces Rebecca and Kate discovers their tryst, ending her relationship with Anne. Complicated? Sort of. And you come away thinking San Francisco is a socially insular city, which is inaccurate – New York City is more so. But this isn’t anything close to “Six Degrees of Separation”.
Adam (Josh Charles, Eddie in “Threesome”) seems to be the leading actor since the story of the movie seems to revolve around him. He plays his seemingly typecast role, that of an emotionally stoic intellectual with relationship problems. However, each of the five other characters has their stories spotlighted throughout the movie. For a small-budget film, it has some prominent actors in supporting roles – Annabel Sciorra (Ellen in “The Night We Never Met”) as Nina, Joanna Goings as Kate, Penelope Ann Miller (Daisy, the object of Matthew Broderick’s affection in “Biloxi Blues”) as Rebecca, and JoBeth Williams (Karen in “The Big Chill”). It also stars Jon Bon Jovi as Kevin; fortunately, his lack of acting talent is masked by his role.
This is one of those movies that would have been better off being shown at a film festival or as a staged play. Roberto Benabib, the writer and director, made the movie muted and subtle but in doing so, caused it to plod along and lack a climax. There are no harsh truths about love and relationships revealed after watching this movie. It is more like an extended version of an episode of “Friends” without melodrama or blunt humor. It even portrays the San Francisco geography incorrectly – it shows Adam and Rebecca under the Golden Gate Bridge on the west side and then shows the skylight of San Francisco. Problem is, you can’t see SF’s skylight from the west side of the bridge.
Why you should or should not see this movie:
The movie is enjoyable but not salient in any way. Do as you will.
Memorable quotes
Kevin: “Somebody once said San Francisco is a great city as long as you don’t mind running into the same six people over and over again.”
Rebecca: “Well, at least I have potential. It’s a wonderful thing, potential. Because as long as I don’t do anything, I’ll still have it.”
Adam: “People who are tragically ambitious and smart go to New York and people who are just tragically smart come here.”
Rebecca: “Oh. Well what about people who are just tragically ambitious?”
Adam: “They go to LA.”