Movies
Telling Lies in America
The Americanization of an immigrant teen from Hungary, under the tutelage of a rock-and-roll deejay in Cleveland (a/k/a "the Mistake on the Lake," or, to natives, "the Best Location in the Nation"), during the infamous days of payola: a past pretty near Medieval, it would appear, in its darkness. Joe Eszterhas's screenplay certainly draws a steady bead on a subject -- the inculcation of deceit as a way of life -- and it stalks it from several angles: idle boasting, daydreaming, forgery, perjury. Certainly, too, it is more "personal" than much of his work (Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct, Showgirls), but it still exhibits his muscle-flexing dialogue ("I think you're slicker than two snakes screwing in a barrel of snot"), and the characterizations are one-note. Brad Renfro, Kevin Bacon, Calista Flockhart, Maximilian Schell; directed by Guy Ferland. 1997.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG-13