Directed by:  Alan Parker 
Written by:  Charles Randolph 
Starring:  Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, Gabriel Mann, Rhona Mitra
 

November 27, 2002

In the tradition of such rip-offs of Dead Man Walking, like the Sharon Stone downer Last Dance or the Clint Eastwood race against the clock True Crime, Hollywood yet again rehashes the man on death row plot formula.  This time washed up, just-looking-for-a-paycheck director Alan Parker—who once made decent films like Midnight Express and Angel Heart, and one great creative experience known as Pink Floyd The Wall—takes two time Oscar winner turned Hollywood sell-out—or is he just being used and thrown out by the big city—Kevin Spacey and makes about the most bland uninteresting cliché filled ruckus of a film against the death penalty, The Life of David Gale.

David Gale (Spacey) is the head of Death Watch, an advocacy group against capital punishment.  He’s also a college professor who we learn has some dark tendencies, like fucking one of his students in a drunken stupor.  After being accused of raping this damsel in distress, David basically loses his life—his wife leaves him, he loses his job at the college and as head of Death Watch, and he becomes even more of an alcoholic than he was before.

The problem with The Life of David Gale is that his life is not all that interesting.  The film is obviously trying to make him human with his sexual desires and failures.  But really it just makes him seem pathetic.  There’s this laughable scene where Spacey is stumbling through the streets, trying to act drunk, and I just couldn’t keep a straight face.  What happened to the Kevin Spacey that gave such a darkly humorous performance in American Beauty, to the Spacey of the cripple Verbal Kent or the detective of the stars in L. A. Confidential?

What we needed here was to see David in his heyday, fighting against capital punishment, displaying his passion and his reasoning, and his fall from this.  The filmmakers try to achieve all this in one scene where he faces off with the Governor of Texas on TV, clearly a jab at President Bush (and rightly so), where he wins the battle with his wits, but loses the war because of his elitist need of being all high and mighty instead of trying to win the debate.

Bitsey Bloom, Kate Winslet’s overly melodramatic reporter, is just as shallow a character as David.  Are we supposed to sympathize with her just because she cries numerous times?  If this role isn’t a staged ploy for an Oscar for Winslet, I don’t know what is.  To top it off, Laura Linney’s disease ridden victim when David goes forth with his pity lay just brings to mind a certain image with a certain quote, “Chloe looked how Meryl Streep's skeleton would look if you made it smile and walk around the party being extra nice to everyone.” (Ed Norton as narrator in Fight Club).  If you watch the film in question that indemnifies 90’s pop culture, you’ll know what I mean.

The biggest problem with The Life of David Gale is its obvious attempt to focus solely on the theme of being against capital punishment.  The reason Dead Man Walking worked so well is because we got to know the two main characters so well, there was humanity in Penn’s murderer, and this is what screamed that the state’s function is not to kill people.  Here, these are just caricatures and we don’t really care for them.

Aside from Dead Man Walking, another good example of a film against the death penalty that doesn’t force its cause on you is Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark.  It’s about many things, from fantasy to sacrifice, and has a message, but in the end it doesn’t force it on you, it makes you think, it raises questions.

With The Life of David Gale, Kevin Spacey follows a dud with a dud—following up last year’s K-Pax that was Hollywood alien cliché nonsense.  After taking home the Best Actor Academy Award for American Beauty, Spacey’s either sold out to Hollywood, or he’s being used.  All I can say is:  Mr. Spacey, let’s start being a little more selective.  You can still get the big paycheck and make a good movie!
 

After the film was over at a recent advanced screening, I said to a couple of people next to me, “That was awful.”  They said they liked it and especially the twist at the end, which from my perspective doesn’t really add anything to the film.  Well, there you go, the verdict is in from the average movie going audience.  I almost feel bad because I can’t say anything good about this film, except that I agree with it politically—I don’t want it to seem like I’m smearing this film for the sake of smearing a Hollywood big budget film…but folks, this is K-Pax Redux.  If you like the same Hollywood garbage force-fed down your throat over and over again, by all means, rush out to see this film.
 

Alternative Recommendations:  Dead Man Walking, Dancer in the Dark, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Fight Club, Pink Floyd The Wall, Angel Heart, Heavenly Creatures

Check out previous Fidelio Film Reviews:

K-Pax
Dancer in the Dark
Fight Club
Heavenly Creatures