|
"Little
'Girl' Lost"
by Scott Mantz
"Girl, Interrupted"
Wynona Ryder, Angelina Jolie
Directed by James Mangold
It's official--adolescence
sucks. Nowhere has that been more obvious than at the movies. Many
films have been able to capture all the insecurities that go along
with passing into adulthood, but none better than classics like
"American Graffiti" and "The Graduate". While most people are able
to make it to the other side, some come up against a brick wall
and need some help climbing over it. As Susanna Kaysen illustrated
in her memoir, only with the help of fellow inmates from a mental
institution was she able to find the strength to carry on. While
"Girl, Interrupted" tries to live up to the promise of the book,
it falls short. It could almost be looked at as a cross between
"Reality Bites" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", but it ends
up being disappointing, dull, and uneven.
It's the late-1960's,
and it's a busy country. Materialistically spoiled but emotionally
neglected Susanna Kaysen (Wynona Ryder) is having a hard time facing
the future. She attempts suicide by downing a bottle of aspirin
with some Vodka, and she is admitted to the Claymoore metal institution.
She finds some unlikely friends with the other girls, but her strongest
connection is with Lisa (Angelina Jolie), an out of control, sexually
charged sociopath. There is nothing really wrong with Susanna, but
she needs to be the one to figure that out before she can go back
into the real world. With the help of the head nurse (Whoopi Goldberg)
and the other inmates, she finds the strength to carry on.
Wynona Ryder
spends most of the movie in a daze, and she's reduced to merely
observing the craziness around her. Only when she lashes out at
the head psychiatrist (played by Vanessa Redgrave) does she show
any real sign of life. Even the usually strong Whoopi Goldberg doesn't
have much to do, as her role of the head nurse could easily have
been played by someone else. The real one to watch is Angelina Jolie.
She takes the sexually charged craziness she first displayed in
"Gia" and goes to the next level. She is bursting with life (ironic
since she is locked up in a mental hospital), and she steals every
scene she's in.
Scenes tend
to drag on without any clear direction or importance to the story
(whatever that is). Other than Ryder and Jolie, we never get to
know the other inmates. They are reduced to cardboard characters,
each displaying their own stereotypical problem. Even for Ryder's
character, it's never really clear just what her problem is. What's
worse, I can't figure out what the connection is between her and
Jolie's Lisa.
"Girl" fails
to engage the audience on a theatrical level and plays more like
something that should have been shown on the Lifetime Network. When
it comes down do it, the movie fails to deliver. Even the final
scene feels reminiscent of the bitchfest from "The Craft". That's
too bad. Instead of taking us on a ride into the mind of a lost
soul amidst the political turmoil of the country, "Girl, Interrupted"
misses the boat completely.
|
