London Written and Directed by Hunter Richards Starring Chris Evans, Jason Statham, Jessica Biel, Joy Bryant, and Kelli Garner Rated R for strong sexual content, pervasive language and drug use, and some violence.
Rating: 2/5 Plot: Two months after getting dumped by a woman named London (Biel), drugged out Syd (Evans) is informed by a phone call that his ex is having a going away party that night and will be leaving town the next day. Enraged and agitated, Syd decides to crash the party and make one final attempt to salvage his relationship with London. Along the way, he picks up Bateman (Statham), a coke-dealing white collar professional who Syd cajoles into accompanying him to the party. Once they arrive, they shack up in an opulent bathroom where they snort massive amounts of smack, debate the existence of God with a pair of passing party-goers, and boorishly compare notes on who has endured greater pain and suffering. Will Syd snap out of his drug-induced haze long enough to speak his peace with London? Is there anything left to reconcile, or can he at least pull himself together enough to move on with his life?
Criticism: The biggest problem with this film is that it's seldom as insightful as it wants to be or thinks it is. Syd and Bateman are not particularly interesting or compelling characters, despite their emotional issues and drug abuse. Their "intellectual" discussions are shallow and trite and flat. They are both so caught up in their insecurities and belligerence that they are incapable of genuinely seeing or feeling for anyone else. The filmmaker is well aware of this, as shown by the use of tag names (acid casualty Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd infamy and Bateman the soulless corporate killer from American Psycho). But the filmmaker refuses to acknowledge that his creations are pathetic and empty. He presents their hollow observations and meaningless chatter as if it were genuine insight. This makes what happens in the last 20 minutes entirely ludicrous, as the film veers suddenly into conventional romantic drama territory that cannot be justified on the basis of what has come before.
Prescriptive Analysis: (spoilers galore) One of the few dead-on moments in the film is in a flashback where London tells Syd that his philosophical discussions are little more than bullying designed to raise himself up by tearing everything else down. The film needs to do more to play up that angle. But first, the Syd character has to be shown as having a little more potential that what is demonstrated here. His "intellectual" repartee needs serious punching up. There are plenty of clever cynics/nihilists to use as models. What he's saying needs to sound attractive and interesting on the surface, so that it can come as a revelation when it's revealed later on in the film as hollow and manipulative self-absorption. Likewise, the numerous flashbacks to his memories of the relationship need to show moments of beauty and understanding and not just the distrust and macho posturing shown here. We need to see that this relationship was something special and we need to feel a sense of tragedy at its loss. We need to see its flaws, especially his flaws which the audience should see even if he doesn't necessarily, at least at the beginning. But we also need to see the beauty when it's not totally swallowed up by the ugliness.
Then there's the issue of those last 20 minutes. Syd and Bateman go downstairs, get into a massive brawl with the party's hosts...and then not only does London leave with Syd, but, after a "deeply meaningful" conversation in which nothing actually deep or meaningful is said or shown, she actually goes to bed with him before catching her plane in the morning. And throughout all this Syd comes across as remarkably together for a man who has indulged in an epically massive cocaine binge.
OK, so how might they have done this instead? Let's keep the fight, but make it even more of a mess. Bateman breaks somebody's nose, the apartment is totally trashed, police get called. Bateman gets arrested, and London has to beg her friend not to press charges against Syd. Syd ends up back in the bathroom, where London comes in to help nurse his injuries. They talk, using some of the dialog from their "deeply meaningful conversation" in the actual film but also more raw anger and hurt from him and a lot more analysis of their relationship's shortcomings from her. Without admitting it, it is here that he has to realize that his intellectualizing is bs and that he's been a totally selfish prick. And, through her tenderness and sadness and invocation of what was beautiful about their relationship, it needs to become clear that she still deeply loves him, though she has made the choice to move on with her life. Perhaps they could fall asleep in the bathroom together, then he takes her to the airport in the morning. The tracking shot at the airport, which is a nicely shot farewell, could then be mostly left intact, only the emotions would be earned.
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