Rita is a hyperactive whirlwind of a mom. Trying to protect son Matt from the past horrors that mark them both, she's single and not good at keeping a job. Mighty funny at times but mostly a tight, engaging character study with vibrant lead performances by Callie Thorne (TV's "Homicide") and Rufus Read ("Happiness"), "Double Parked" is a promising debut from director/co-writer Stephen Kinsella.
Winner of the Moviemaker Breakthrough Award at this year's Slamdance Film Festival in Park City and a crowd-pleaser at the recent Santa Barbara (Calif.) International Film Festival, "Double Parked" screened Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as part of the American Cinematheque's Best of Slamdance evening. Touching and occasionally harrowing, as well as off the beaten path, this low-budget indie will remind some of "Sling Blade" and deserves a shot at reaching discerning audiences in art houses and on cable and video.
In Kinsella and Paul Solberg's screenplay, Rita (Thorne) and young Matt are first seen barely surviving a horrible relationship with a violent man. Ten years later, she's barely keeping them off the streets, and Matt (Read), a cheerful but fragile lad, is suffering from cystic fibrosis and a shortage of friends.
The thrust of the plot follows their separate but related tracks as Rita gets a job as a meter maid and Matt starts hanging out with a troublemaking schoolmate (Noah Fleiss). From pranks and petty crime to smoking a cigar, Matt flirts with more dangers than he knows. Protective, paranoid, rude, but mostly lovable, Rita is her own worst enemy -- that is, until Matt's evil father and all-around basher Warren (P.J. Brown) returns to shakes things up.
Thorne and Read are a marvel together. Matt's morning routine, dictated by his condition, and Rita's almost feverish intensity doing just about anything are indicative of the unique chemistry the actors achieve as characters who are bound by the struggle to survive but often are seen apart going through misadventures in living, working and growing up.
With an agreeable supporting cast that includes William Sage, Michelle Hurd and Eileen Galindo, "Double Parked" is a little too predictable in its overarching story of Rita's campaign to be rid of Warren, but there are many admirable achievements in Kinsella's no-frills approach.
DOUBLE PARKED
Fierce Films
a 44th Street Films production
Director:Stephen Kinsella
Screenwriters:Stephen Kinsella, Paul Solberg
Producers:Stephen Kinsella, Matthew Myers
Executive producer:Mark Montgomery
Director of photography:Jim Denault
Production designer:Anthony Gasparro
Editor:Seth E. Anderson
Costume designer:Monica Willis
Music:Craig Hazen, David Wolfert
Casting:Adrienne Stern
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rita Ronaldi:Callie Thorne
Matt Ronaldi:Rufus Read
Bret:Noah Fleiss
Warren:P.J. Brown
Lola:Michelle Hurd
Karl Severson:William Sage
Dolores Gonzalez:Eileen Galindo
DiDonna:Cassandra Morris
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Winner of the Moviemaker Breakthrough Award at this year's Slamdance Film Festival in Park City and a crowd-pleaser at the recent Santa Barbara (Calif.) International Film Festival, "Double Parked" screened Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as part of the American Cinematheque's Best of Slamdance evening. Touching and occasionally harrowing, as well as off the beaten path, this low-budget indie will remind some of "Sling Blade" and deserves a shot at reaching discerning audiences in art houses and on cable and video.
In Kinsella and Paul Solberg's screenplay, Rita (Thorne) and young Matt are first seen barely surviving a horrible relationship with a violent man. Ten years later, she's barely keeping them off the streets, and Matt (Read), a cheerful but fragile lad, is suffering from cystic fibrosis and a shortage of friends.
The thrust of the plot follows their separate but related tracks as Rita gets a job as a meter maid and Matt starts hanging out with a troublemaking schoolmate (Noah Fleiss). From pranks and petty crime to smoking a cigar, Matt flirts with more dangers than he knows. Protective, paranoid, rude, but mostly lovable, Rita is her own worst enemy -- that is, until Matt's evil father and all-around basher Warren (P.J. Brown) returns to shakes things up.
Thorne and Read are a marvel together. Matt's morning routine, dictated by his condition, and Rita's almost feverish intensity doing just about anything are indicative of the unique chemistry the actors achieve as characters who are bound by the struggle to survive but often are seen apart going through misadventures in living, working and growing up.
With an agreeable supporting cast that includes William Sage, Michelle Hurd and Eileen Galindo, "Double Parked" is a little too predictable in its overarching story of Rita's campaign to be rid of Warren, but there are many admirable achievements in Kinsella's no-frills approach.
DOUBLE PARKED
Fierce Films
a 44th Street Films production
Director:Stephen Kinsella
Screenwriters:Stephen Kinsella, Paul Solberg
Producers:Stephen Kinsella, Matthew Myers
Executive producer:Mark Montgomery
Director of photography:Jim Denault
Production designer:Anthony Gasparro
Editor:Seth E. Anderson
Costume designer:Monica Willis
Music:Craig Hazen, David Wolfert
Casting:Adrienne Stern
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rita Ronaldi:Callie Thorne
Matt Ronaldi:Rufus Read
Bret:Noah Fleiss
Warren:P.J. Brown
Lola:Michelle Hurd
Karl Severson:William Sage
Dolores Gonzalez:Eileen Galindo
DiDonna:Cassandra Morris
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/23/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A chintzy cartoon version of the greatest of all monster movies -- the original "King Kong" was released 65 years ago -- "The Mighty Kong" is guilty of misleading advertising with its upbeat tag line, "Meet the friendliest monster in town in an animated musical treat for the entire family!"
Not that more than a handful of moviegoers will care (the Legacy release opened Friday in three Los Angeles-area theaters to rock-bottom business), but this Kong is not friendly or cute. He's a lot like the original Kong: scary and primitive. He grunts and roars, battles dinos and runs off with a pretty blonde after years of sampling native maiden entrees on Skull Island.
But in an ill-fated attempt to soften the material for the tricycles-and-Tinkertoys audience, the filmmakers simply took out the violent stuff -- Kong killing off most of the expedition that comes looking for him, Kong laying waste to New York, etc. -- and added formulaic songs to go with the story still set during the Depression.
Scheduled for release on video this month, "The Mighty Kong" fails miserably on all levels. The animation is nothing special. The songs are instantly forgettable. The reworking of some characters -- such as Dudley Moore's voicing of driven film producer Denham, who is now an insufferable wimp -- doesn't work. The addition of cabin boy Ricky and his pet monkey Chips is annoying revisionism pandering to demographics.
At least it's mercifully over in 74 minutes.
THE MIGHTY KONG
Legacy Releasing
A Lana Film production
Credits: Supervising director: James A. Simon; Animation director: Art Scott; Producers: Lyn Henderson, Denis de Vallance; Screenwriter: William J. Keenan; Executive producers: Koichi Motohashi, George W. Drysdale; Music: David Siebels; Songs: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman. Voices: C.B. Denham: Dudley Moore; Ann Darrow: Jodi Benson; Jack Driscoll: Randy Hamilton; Roscoe: William Sage III; Ricky: Jason Gray-Standford; Captain: Richard Newman. MPAA rating: G. Color/stereo. Running time -- 74 minutes...
Not that more than a handful of moviegoers will care (the Legacy release opened Friday in three Los Angeles-area theaters to rock-bottom business), but this Kong is not friendly or cute. He's a lot like the original Kong: scary and primitive. He grunts and roars, battles dinos and runs off with a pretty blonde after years of sampling native maiden entrees on Skull Island.
But in an ill-fated attempt to soften the material for the tricycles-and-Tinkertoys audience, the filmmakers simply took out the violent stuff -- Kong killing off most of the expedition that comes looking for him, Kong laying waste to New York, etc. -- and added formulaic songs to go with the story still set during the Depression.
Scheduled for release on video this month, "The Mighty Kong" fails miserably on all levels. The animation is nothing special. The songs are instantly forgettable. The reworking of some characters -- such as Dudley Moore's voicing of driven film producer Denham, who is now an insufferable wimp -- doesn't work. The addition of cabin boy Ricky and his pet monkey Chips is annoying revisionism pandering to demographics.
At least it's mercifully over in 74 minutes.
THE MIGHTY KONG
Legacy Releasing
A Lana Film production
Credits: Supervising director: James A. Simon; Animation director: Art Scott; Producers: Lyn Henderson, Denis de Vallance; Screenwriter: William J. Keenan; Executive producers: Koichi Motohashi, George W. Drysdale; Music: David Siebels; Songs: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman. Voices: C.B. Denham: Dudley Moore; Ann Darrow: Jodi Benson; Jack Driscoll: Randy Hamilton; Roscoe: William Sage III; Ricky: Jason Gray-Standford; Captain: Richard Newman. MPAA rating: G. Color/stereo. Running time -- 74 minutes...
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