Mind the Gap
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Actor: John Heard, Michael Gatson, Mina Badie, Pamela Dunlap, Stan BergerBrand: Showtime Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 134 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Showtime Ent.
DVD Reviews of Mind the Gap
DVD Review: Real Characters And Situations Need Not Apply--Another Film With An Annoying Compendium Of Character "Types"
Summary: 1 Stars
Here we go again (send me your hate mail). "Mind The Gap" is another (of many) films that people discover and love. With a large colorful cast, many life lessons to be learned, and a rollicking feel good ending--oh, this must be a crowd pleaser! People will embrace this film, it'll make them feel good--but rarely have I witnessed a movie so false and so manipulative at every turn. I recently said in another review that "quirky" is the new curse of the indie film scene. There are nice quirky pictures--but most films of this genre tend to give you character types instead of real people. We're supposed to find oddball mannerisms irresistible and relatable. Now a straight comedy can sometimes pull this off, but it is far more difficult for a film trying to have a serious side. It's a house of cards--because you have "types" and not "people," real emotional payoff is hard to come by. In "Mind the Gap," this house is also built on overstylized and unbelievable dialogue.
The impossibly quirky characters in this ensemble include an old Jewish man in New York who berates everyone he meets, a terribly despondent father in the Southwest, and a street performer in Astoria with a bad heart and 10 jars of peanut butter in her refrigerator (isn't that wacky?) There are two other main characters, each more precious than the others. There's a man in Vermont with his son. They shave their heads on a whim to look like Michael Jordan, isn't that cute? And they patter on in a most unrealistic way--imagine a grade school child who draws crayon pictures in class. Now imagine the same kid involved in pithy banter and uttering lines like this--"Do you really think that subliminal mind control is the way to bring up a healthy, free-thinking child?" Priceless. And a young woman taking care of her terminal mother in a trailer. She wears winter hats year round to make people smile, collects photos of crime victims and their mothers, and has people send her audio tapes from places around the work (like a diner in China). That way she can go around uttering cute foreign phrases when she has no idea what they mean. Why utilize only one quirk when you can really layer it on?
After about an hour of this whimsical merriment, it's time for something more serious. With mood music cueing you to every emotion you should feel, our crazy cast gets decidedly more maudlin. All the precious quirks are dropped. Now we get attempted suicide, terminal illness and the repercussions of rape among other things. No longer content to be a bit of a lark, "Mind The Gap" now attempts to discuss the human condition and the frailty of life.
But don't worry about anything too serious. After a bit of soul searching and contemplation, we get to the most outrageously contrived ending possible. All of our disparate souls end up in New York crossing paths with each other and learning how to live again. What uplift and inspiration--not a moment of the emotion real or earned and not a bit of it believable.
I'm sorry to be a cynic (again) for the many of you who will adore this movie. Nothing pleases me more than to genuinely connect with a film--to laugh, cry and feel. But, for me, a film has to earn genuine emotion by being genuine--not by sitcom contrivance and feel good cliche. KGHarris, 11/06.
Description of Mind the Gap
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