monkeyshines

"Monkey Shines" was an intriguing project that George A. Romero tackled onto, supplying his writing and directing skills for a different genre he hasn't worked with before; psychological thriller. Despite some creepy advertisements and the top billing of the well known director, this film didn't receive much attention from the critics and moviegoers alike. Now that it is released on VHS and DVD, fans of the directors work should find something to like here. Romero's style and craftmanship behind the camera really show and this film impressed me somewhat more than it did a majority of the people who saw it. I found it to be a well constructed, albeit sometimes predictable affair.

When we first meet Allan Mann (Jason Beghe), its a little hard not to be drawn into the movie. We see him waking up out of bed with his sexy girlfriend (Janine Turner), getting himself ready for a morning jog. He's an ambitious man with a great paying job and an appealing personality that attracts everyone around him. However, everything suddenly takes a crashing halt when he is accidently hit by a truck during the jog. After a long recovery, he finds himself paralyzed from the neck down. His girlfriend suddenly walks out on him without a care in the world and it isn't any better that he's stuck with his overprotective mother (Joyce Van Patten) and an egotistical nurse (Christine Forrest) to nag on him all day. His buddy Geoffrey (John Pankow) is the one decent person to come his way as he comes up with a possible way of helping reduce stress from Allan. Geoffrey, whose profession requires him to perform scientific experiments on animals, decides to bring in Ella (Boo) for Allan, an incredibly smart monkey with similar brain patterns as a human. When she meets Allan, the two instantly hit it off. She helps him with his daily chores and starts to bring out a better side to him. Just when things are starting to go better for him, Allan starts being haunted by nightmares from a monkeys point of view and discovers Ella taking on a darker personality than he is used to seeing. With the help of Geoffrey, Allan hopes of finding out more on Ella and her sudden defense tactics against those who give him a hard time.

This film takes a little bit of patience getting through its rather sluggish first half, but Beghe manages to elevate this from becoming a tv-movie-of-the-week. Beghe gives a realistic and touching performance in his part, making us care for what happens with his character. His chemistry between Boo and love interest Kate McNeil were what made the film most work for me. It's impossible for Boo's personality not to win you over and McNeil is a charmer in her role as a love interest of Allans. Pankow also does a commendable job, nicely portraying a flawed person who wants the best for his friend.

A flaw I noticed in Romero's films is that the villainous characters are always obvious from the get-go and one-dimensional. Its too bad to see he does the same with his side characters in here who keep giving Allan the cold shoulder. I can't quite figure out why they're acting like that, other than to create a body count. The performers are convincing enough that they make you hate them, but I felt they could've been written better into the film.

Romero does create a claustrophobic atmosphere that suits this film well, letting the film take its time by developing the characters and the storyline. The simple opening scene with hardly any dialogue shows a good example of how Romero can tell a story without using words. There are times where I felt the film slacked around and I didn't buy into a few of the plot twists.

Where I found the first part to be somewhat decent, Romero gets some strong mileage out of the second part. The climax holds some true suspense and it becomes increasingly fun to watch, watching the way it deals around the use of mindgames. Aside from a cheesy nightmare sequence, its a relief to see that Romero never uses any cheap jumps to keep your attention.

I think its a nice change for Romero, as he'd eventuallly take these roots deeper with the underrated "Dark Half" and upcoming project "Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon." Those expecting a gore-fest like his earlier efforts will be eyeing the fast forward button on their remote, yet others will likely appreciate its more subtle approach. It's not one of Romeros better films, but I think its a solid effort that has some effective chills and an interesting enough character study between the leads that make it worth a look.

Rating: *** 1/2 out of *****

Review by Adam Eshack - (c) 3/7/02
Review by Adam Eshack - (c) 3/6/02