“Patriot Games” (1992) is one of the few contemporary novels that I read and then saw as a movie. I read it during a week of jury duty back in 1990. I thought Tom Clancy wrote one of the most compelling car chase scenes I had ever read, but I was highly unsatisfied with the ending (Jack Ryan might stand for justice, but not the poetic kind.). The movie comes across as rushed and too actiony for a spy thriller. It’s like a sports highlight reel with no context of how the game was actually played. The ending? Slightly better.
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It’s one of those movies with a bunch of seemingly unrelated story lines that somehow are supposed to come together. It’s one of those movies with an eclectic ensemble of veteran stars (Jack Lemmon!), up-and-comers (Julianne Moore!) and WTFs (Huey Lewis?). It’s one of those Robert Altman movies. So you know all the critics and artsy-fartsy types loved “Short Cuts” (1993). I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Twenty-two major characters, and not a one of them is likeable. They’re all somewhere on a continuum from pathetic to despicable. I get it, Robert. Life in L.A. sucks. Your point?
For about 10 years beginning in the late 1970s, Hollywood put out several movies attempting to poke fun at the rat race Americans were allegedly living at the time. Consumerism, credit cards, blah, blah, blah. American Family Man gets fed up. Hijinks ensue. Most of these films suck. “The Check Is In the Mail” (1986) is one of these movies. Brian Dennehy stars (which is never a good idea). After an overly long buildup, he tries to take his family off the grid – no electricity, no car, etc. It’s like a bad reality show mated with a bad sitcom pilot.
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