Quick Flicks: Teeth, The Deep End, The People Vs. Larry Flynt

I love coming up with these awesome post titles and “Quick Flicks” is probably the best so far. I’m sure someone already owns it but I haven’t bothered looking or Googling it. In an attempt to recover from my lack of posting these past few weeks I decided to write a few short reviews. It’s a bit easier than writing a full blown review on one film (by the way, Iron Man is still coming). I know I promised a full review of Mitchell Lichtenstein’s Teeth but I’m not prepared to write five or more paragraphs on a penis trap. With that said, here is the first addition in the Quick Flicks series.

Teeth // Directed by: Mitchell Lichtenstein
As you may remember I’ve been attracted to Teeth from the start but didn’t get a chance to view it until the DVD release a few weeks ago. Teeth is about a girl named Dawn (Jess Weixler) as she goes through a transitional period in her life. We first see Dawn as she gives a speech about abstinence to a group of young kids but by the end of the movie she’s a very different girl. Dawn isn’t your average teen in two ways. Besides being an anti-sex fanatic she’s also not into the idea of being in a relationship. She is the type of person who thinks boys have cooties. Then there’s the Vagina Dentata problem, an ancient myth that says her toothed vagina must be conquered by a “hero.” Unfortunately she doesn’t have any idea of her condition until a close friend tries to rape her. He finds out the myth is true the hard way.

As much as this sounds like a horror film, it’s really more of a satire. At first the events may cause you to squirm around your seat, but eventually you’ll find the dialog and scenes are laid out in a more comedic format. Dawn’s transition occurs roughly at the same pace. Artistically speaking Mitchell Lichtenstein didn’t make the most interesting film to look at, although he showed short moments of brilliance. If you have the ability to find the hilarious in the disgusting then Teeth is worth seeing.

The Deep End // Directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
The Deep End is one film that flew well under the radar in 2001, just like most films did at my tender age of 11. I was just introduced to The Deep End last week while channel flipping back and forth from Sundance to IFC. The Deep End is a thriller starring the excellent Tilda Swinton as Margaret Hall, a concerned mother who goes beyond the normal means to keep her kids safe. Her son (Jonathan Tucker) has been getting intimately involved with a sketchy character named Darby Reese (Josh Lucas) as of late and she’s having a tough time dealing with it. After a little late night spat Margaret discovers Reese’s dead body at her dock. Thinking that her son may have killed him, she quickly attempts to clean up the scene.

Shortly after the incident she’s visited by two men with some incriminating evidence that could send her son to jail. The rest of the film explores her growing relationship with one of the men black mailing her son. It works for a good portion of the second half but not without flaws. More and more it becomes too melodramatic and wacky for it to really work. Luckily The Deep End held an ace in its pocket by casting Swinton. She’s excellent as the torn mother and nails every scene. There aren’t too many pure negatives you can point out but it’s all just too basic. Even though you probably haven’t seen this exact story laid out before, there’s a good chance it will still strike you as familiar.

The People Vs. Larry Flynt // Directed by: Milos Forman
Chances are, if you’ve heard of director Milos Forman it was in conjunction with his most popular movie, Amadeus. Well, either that or the Jim Carey lead Man on the Moon. The People Vs. Larry Flynt falls somewhere in between the two, speaking only in terms of popularity. It’s about Larry Flynt (portrayed by Woody Harrelson), a well to-do porn magazine entrepreneur who started Hustler. Unlike Playboy, Hustler was met with much harsher criticism. The People Vs. Larry Flynt is an off the wall film about a person’s Constitutional freedoms. Only in this case the details are direct imports from real life concurrences.

It’s great in several ways. While it has a great comedic overtone, that doesn’t get in the way of the film’s softer and more serious sections. In many ways it could be compared to Amadeus since Forman uses a similar formula in each of those two movies. Both combine laughs with things that would normal makes us uneasy, like death. There’s also a reasonable amount of acting talent spread throughout each one of the roles. Courtney Love doesn’t have a hard time portraying Flynt’s drugged out wife and Edward Norton does great as he depicts Flynt’s lawyer; a role that undoubtedly had a lot to do with his career kicking off. It’s worth checking out for its multiple laughs and eventually for its unspeakable imagery.