Newest Reviews:

New Movies -  

The Tunnel

V/H/S

The Tall Man

Mama Africa

Detention

Brake

Ted

Tomboy

Brownian Movement

Last Ride

[Rec]³: Genesis

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

Indie Game: The Movie

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Old Movies -

Touki Bouki: The Journey of the Hyena

Drums Along the Mohawk

The Chase

The Heiress

Show People

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

Pitfall

Driftwood

Miracle Mile

The Great Flamarion

Dark Habits

Archives -

Recap: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 , 2005, 2006, 2007 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2012

All reviews alphabetically

All reviews by star rating

All reviews by release year

Masterpieces

Screening Log

Links

FAQ

E-mail me

HOME                       

 

 

Don’s Plum (R.D. Robb) 2001 

Disclaimer – I viewed Don’s Plum not in a theater, but on a bootleg VHS tape that I got off of ebay, complete with an occasional time code, suggesting it might not have been a 100% finished copy. Still, it seemed close enough that I don’t feel too bad about writing a review. 

Don’s Plum, a jazzy riff of a movie that feels more like an extended short film, has had its US release suppressed since it’s not exactly flattering to its powerful stars’ (Leo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire) images. During the slightly improvisational film, which takes place almost exclusively in a restaurant / bar named “Don’s Plum”, a small group of twentyish boys and girls wax not-too-poetically mostly about sex and what they perceive as each others’ weaknesses. Derek (DiCaprio), the resident misanthropic alpha-male, is the most irritable of this group of slackers, and his mean-spirited taunts at the others set the tone for this evening of “hanging out”. 

Though the movie’s lack of narrative thrust, variation of topic, and low production values recall Larry Clark’s Kids, this is a much better, less damning movie, though it must be noted that it takes fewer risks than Clark’s film did. Still, the cast manages to consistently build a good deal of energy with their banter, even if that energy has no place to go, since the movie doesn’t have much in the way of a point beyond an evocation of their mindset. That’s disappointing, because it’s usually preferable to have some sort of insight instead of simple, if effective, recreation of mood. 

It’s a bit disturbing that DiCaprio and Maguire had no faith in their audience’s ability to discern the characters that they play from they people who they are. Though there are a few slightly shocking moments (DiCaprio threatens to stick a bottle in a woman’s face and Maguire threatens to stick a finger up his ass), there’s nothing that could really be seen as a real threat to their establishment as matinee idols. It’s a shame that, as two of their generation’s better actors, they aren’t bigger risk takers. Frankly, the bit in Vanilla Sky where Tom Cruise insists that he is straight is more shocking than anything Don’s Plum offers up. These characters are so obviously characters that I don’t see how the fear that their attitudes would be read as representative came to be, especially since DiCaprio himself plays an even less likable character in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, and even though the film is a bit of a failure, it’s still better than The Cider House Rules or The Beach

The presence of those stars is the main reason to see this film, however. There are only a few scenes Don’s Plum that work unequivocally (the best occurs when one of the gang is offered a ride on the casting couch), and the rest of the cast doesn’t make much of a lasting impression. The worst moments in the film occur during the frequent and indulgent confessionals given to a bathroom mirror. Nearly the entire cast stops the action for a snippet of soul baring once or twice, but it rarely has any enlightening effect upon the main action. As a Diner for its generation, it feels terribly empty. Ultimately, Don’s Plum is most interesting as a footnote to the tabloid tale of its distribution. 

**½ 

01-04-02 

Jeremy Heilman