In Fierce People, a sixteen-year-old boy (Anton Yelchin) is forced to forgo a summer with his dad observing tribes in South America (the fierce people) for a summer with his drug- and booze-dependent mom (Diane Lane) in upstate New York when she's hired as the full-time masseuse to a super-duper-rich man (Donald Sutherland). But the movie veers sharply from charming comedy to turgid melodrama and never truly finds its way. In spite of some spirited performances (particularly by Lane), Griffin Dunne's film doesn't really have an identity, and without a solid identity, it can be a tough movie to follow and enjoy.
Liz (Lane) and Finn (Yelchin) are a dysfunctional family living in New York. She's a cokehead and drunk who puts out for some of her masseuse clients (but she does have a degree in massage therapy). He's a good kid who sometimes enables her, because she's a great mom during those rare moments when she's not hammered. At any rate, fate intervenes and keeps Finn from seeing his dad, a renowned anthropologist, in the Southern Hemisphere; instead, he and his mom are schlepped to the Hamptons so she can give Ogden Osbourne (Sutherland) his daily rubdowns, and here Finn decides to observe a different kind of tribe, that of the filthy rich. Of course, he can't just observe, and he slowly ingratiates himself into Osbourne's fiefdom, befriending his grandson Bryce (Chris Evans, who looks like a young Stephen Baldwin) and falling in love with his granddaughter (Kristen Stewart, once the tyke from Panic Room). Liz and Finn are given a house and a car, and naturally the rumors fly about Liz's true relationship with Osbourne.
Most of the acting ranges from sweet (Yelchin) to a bit hammy (Sutherland, who even gets to sing), but it's Lane who truly stands out with a bravura, top-notch performance. Her Liz is intensely and simultaneously vulnerable and strong; she lives not for herself but for the love of her son, which has ebbed quite substantially in recent years. Liz has to do battle with her teen son, her own ambitions and self-confidence, and the suspicious eyes of Osbourne's family, particularly his daughter (Elizabeth Perkins), a bit of a lush in her own right. Lane is still exquisitely beautiful, and she carries herself with a fragile grace; she almost seems attainable to a normal person, in other words, not like a Star.
The movie covers some pretty strong subjects, from sexual awakenings, gun violence, major drug use (including acid), and murder, but often it feels like just a melting pot of weirdness, as if the protagonists were merely flitting from tragedy to tragedy; Finn is sort of a combination between Dean Moriarity and Homer Bailey. But unlike the wallflower Bailey, as played by Tobey Maguire, Yelchin's Finn is good and sincere, but he's proactive. He desperately wants his mom to get better, but he also wants things for himself, like a warm female. He's a smartass, but he's not some grinning idiot who's happy to take the kindness of others without offering anything in return.
Oh, and then there's the film's eventual villain, a person you'll spot a mile away, a good thirty minutes before his identity is revealed. The movie will ask, "Who could have done this?" and you'll reply, "That guy, over there. Duh." It's that obvious. At first, I thought that perhaps it was a little too obvious, that the movie would pull a switcheroo at the last minute. You know, a red herring to throw me off the scent. But, nope. Fraid not. It was that person all along. And that kind of annoyed me, because up until then I was sure that the movie was going to be tightly plotted, with some genuine twists tossed in. Sadly, no. And the ending is a little too clean for my tastes; I like my endings jagged, like a used sponge.
Liz (Lane) and Finn (Yelchin) are a dysfunctional family living in New York. She's a cokehead and drunk who puts out for some of her masseuse clients (but she does have a degree in massage therapy). He's a good kid who sometimes enables her, because she's a great mom during those rare moments when she's not hammered. At any rate, fate intervenes and keeps Finn from seeing his dad, a renowned anthropologist, in the Southern Hemisphere; instead, he and his mom are schlepped to the Hamptons so she can give Ogden Osbourne (Sutherland) his daily rubdowns, and here Finn decides to observe a different kind of tribe, that of the filthy rich. Of course, he can't just observe, and he slowly ingratiates himself into Osbourne's fiefdom, befriending his grandson Bryce (Chris Evans, who looks like a young Stephen Baldwin) and falling in love with his granddaughter (Kristen Stewart, once the tyke from Panic Room). Liz and Finn are given a house and a car, and naturally the rumors fly about Liz's true relationship with Osbourne.
Most of the acting ranges from sweet (Yelchin) to a bit hammy (Sutherland, who even gets to sing), but it's Lane who truly stands out with a bravura, top-notch performance. Her Liz is intensely and simultaneously vulnerable and strong; she lives not for herself but for the love of her son, which has ebbed quite substantially in recent years. Liz has to do battle with her teen son, her own ambitions and self-confidence, and the suspicious eyes of Osbourne's family, particularly his daughter (Elizabeth Perkins), a bit of a lush in her own right. Lane is still exquisitely beautiful, and she carries herself with a fragile grace; she almost seems attainable to a normal person, in other words, not like a Star.
The movie covers some pretty strong subjects, from sexual awakenings, gun violence, major drug use (including acid), and murder, but often it feels like just a melting pot of weirdness, as if the protagonists were merely flitting from tragedy to tragedy; Finn is sort of a combination between Dean Moriarity and Homer Bailey. But unlike the wallflower Bailey, as played by Tobey Maguire, Yelchin's Finn is good and sincere, but he's proactive. He desperately wants his mom to get better, but he also wants things for himself, like a warm female. He's a smartass, but he's not some grinning idiot who's happy to take the kindness of others without offering anything in return.
Oh, and then there's the film's eventual villain, a person you'll spot a mile away, a good thirty minutes before his identity is revealed. The movie will ask, "Who could have done this?" and you'll reply, "That guy, over there. Duh." It's that obvious. At first, I thought that perhaps it was a little too obvious, that the movie would pull a switcheroo at the last minute. You know, a red herring to throw me off the scent. But, nope. Fraid not. It was that person all along. And that kind of annoyed me, because up until then I was sure that the movie was going to be tightly plotted, with some genuine twists tossed in. Sadly, no. And the ending is a little too clean for my tastes; I like my endings jagged, like a used sponge.