Session 008 - Citizen Ruth
Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?
Monday, September 24, 2007
In the Screening Room - Alexander Payne's
Citizen Ruth
Session 008 - Citizen Ruth
Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?
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4 comments:
Well as we discussed, I hated this film.
I'm a big fan of Alexander Payne's other films, but I finally agreed with Van Hallgren's sentiments about him. He has no love for any of his characters in this film. They are simply pawns to humiliate and make offensive/provocative. Not one second of this film felt genuine in its intentions, whatever those may be, and not one character felt earnest or endearing enough for me to wallow through all the other one-sided ignorant sexist pigs that parade around in this sorry excuse for a satire.
Payne I guess wanted to make a satirical comment on the abortion issue. Here he shows how a junkie who becomes pregnant gets involved in a media circus as the pro-lifers/pro-choicers use her to send a message about either women's rights/fetal rights.
Laura Dern plays the worst protagonist ever in the history of cinema. We are supposed to feel sympathy for her, but she creates the chaos herself as she tries to manipulate both sides in the dumbest fashion imaginable. She is beyond banshee annoying and has entered new territory that only "Staying Alive" or Scott Stapp has tread as both a a trainwreck on the eyes as well as the ears. I hated her so much in this, that I would seriously punch Laura Dern if I ever come within reaching distance. Hopefully her performance in Inland Empire will prevent that, but it will have to take a monumental performance from her to win me back.
The rest of the cast are just too one-dimensional and annoying for me to follow either. Swoozie Kurtz's true identity falls straight into camp. Burt Reynolds made me want to vomit he was so damn greasy and slimy. Tippi Hedron even shows up in one of the most pointless cameos ever.
According to Payne, the only people whop are pro-choice are butch lesbians. Seriously, there is one guy in the group. The rest are big butch lesbians. What the hell is that all about? That is just about one of the most offensive ideas ever. Why, because since they won't likely experience birth the normal method than no one else should? It is so asinine that it feels intentional.
But you know what, I was never bored. It kept me guessing and always surprised me, even though the surprises only made me angrier. The ending shot is actually done well, except by that point, I was so rooting against the lead that is becomes both unsatisfying and devoid of morals. This film was a mess from start to finish.
Well, probably unsurprisingly, I'm going to give it a positive review. Hahaha. Slightly positive, but positive nonetheless. This could be the exact reverse debate we had on Croupier, although I don't like this film nearly as much as you liked that one.
Seriously though the dissention is just getting ridiculous at this point with the "Screening Room Sessions." I think we've been on the same page once...
...for a Joel Schumacher film...
......giving it a positive review! Ridiculous.
Oh well, here we go again.
I will say that for the first thirty minutes or so, I was right there with you. I hated the film. And I hated Ruth.
Really, leave it to me to say that Tea Leoni's character from Spanglish was possibly my least favorite character of all-time and then Laura Dern shows up here and blows her entirely out of the water.
Say what I would about Leoni's selfish, maniacal Spanglish character, at least she wasn't huffing glue and taking payoffs to get an abortion. Really, Ruth is the epitome of the truly reprehensible protagonists. There isn't a single moment in the film where she isn't looking out 100% for herself and only herself. I'm still in agreement with you on this much, Ruth is an awful, awful human being.
But around the time that Swoosie Kurtz (playing Diane Siegler) rips off her wig to show that she's infiltrated the religious right's "Baby Savers" program, I started to come around.
You're right, sometimes the views are offensive... but that's kind of the point of the satire. The entire "Baby Savers" program consists of the Bible-song-singing religious right and the liberals, yes, are the butch-ed up lesbians.
But by the end, I had to give respect to the film because it had me laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation. Alexander Payne has it play out as a 'war' between sides, complete with combat soldiers and barracades, sit ins and riots, politics and bribes, propoganda and religious vigils.
So, while I'll agree that Payne had yet to develop any sympathy for his characters, I won't say Citizen Ruth isn't without its good qualities... even if Ruth herself is.
You know I can't argue with your assessment of the film. I think you saw it the way it was intended, but I was just so angry and annoyed that they could have trotted out a Kevin Smith Q&A and I still probably wouldn't have found it funny. It clearly spirals into absurd satire, but I do think it misses the whole point of its message when it doesn't punish Ruth, but actually reward her for her actions. I couldn't believe that, and simply hated the fact that Payne would reward that bitch. She doesn't deserve anything except that jail cell she was supposed to occupy.
The whole "war" was something I could have got behind, but Ruth was just so reprehensible that I didn't care where it was going. Haven't seen Blow Up yet, but I imagine we will at least finally agree with each other again when we talk Seventh Seal.
True, Ruth probably deserves to be buried alive more than any character I've ever seen (she'd probably try to get high on the wood polish for her own casket)... but when you think about it in context of the movie and how both of these sides are fighting so hard to have this worthless human being on THEIR side, it kind of makes it's point.
I don't think it makes the point all that well and is not really worth having to suffer through Ruth as a character but I just couldn't bring myself to give it a negative reaction when I felt like it did so much right.
And you can see the imprints of what Alexander Payne has become in it, so it's kind of fascinating in that regard too. Not a great film by any means, but not one I regret having seen either.
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