Panic

'Panic...no really'

As a continuation of my William H. Macy appreciation week trilogy, I follow up with this lesser known film which also contains one of my favorite actresses, Neve Campbell. In fact, that's the only reason I chose to watch this film out of the huge canon of Macy's past works. Panic is a film about a man struggling to feel alive again by seeing a psychologist and having an affair with a fellow patient. But before I can dissect, I'm afraid I must dissect the actors first, since the quirks and inabilities seem to overlap.

For whatever reason, this film is very uneven in its acting. Upon reflection, no one actor does a terrible job. The story itself is just so hard to relate to. Macy and Campbell's characters are so messed up that it is almost too bizarre to handle. Maybe it isn't the story itself, but the chemistry between actors. At the beginning of the movie it is hard to recognize any relationship between Macy's character and any other character. As the film progresses, we watch and slowly see the frayed and tense bonds between Macy and his family and the newer frayed bonds he forms with his psychologist and Campbell. The biggest problem is that Macy's character is so detached. As the main character he is hard to understand, let alone empathize with since his character is so detached. At one point he tells the psychologist(John Ritter) that he doesn't think he's ever been angry in his life. Life! Thankfully, the story pushes him out of his shell and toward the end he begins to make more emotional decisions. As for his supporting cast, Campbell plays the confused love starved female with aplomb and Donald Sutherland is great as Macy's dad/boss. Sutherland comes across as spooky, manipulative, and mean in a fatherly way. The only acting choice I have a problem with is Sutherland's attempted accent, it aids the Sopranos complex causes the film to reek for the first half, but more on that later. Tracey Ullman does a great job of playing Macy's wife and showing a more emotional dramatic turn that I am used to (The entire time: That's Tracey Ullman! Or not. Or is! or not...thank God for imdb). The best standout performance though has to belong to John Ritter as the psychologist. He nails the tone of his character and his actions perfectly from the beginning. Not to mention the new look of Ritter with a full head of hair works well to keep his normally over-expressive face subtle. In every scene with Ritter, it's easy to become involved in his plight with his new patient. It's good to see a solid performance by Ritter in something other than comedy.

The director and writer of the film is Henry Bromell. Bromell is a writer better known to television than film, and it shows. The film is incredibly slow paced at first. The title character is fairly uninteresting for the first half of the movie and it smacks of the Sopranos. The Sopranos is obviously a reference to the famous HBO series in which a mafia family is run by James Gandolfini who is also seeking a shrink's help with his many problems. Many issues that were unique and well combed through already by the Sopranos are regurgitated by Panic. It is only later when Macy's character really begins to recover from his world of death does the story become interesting. The change in development of the family business and the relationship between Macy and his parents becomes much more interesting when his ambitions and desires conflict with what's expected. The movie becomes more interesting by becoming more confused and strange, but in the confusion there is a sense of welcome as a change from the everyday of Macy’s character’s life. Ultimately the story has a good denouement, but there will be many moments where you fill find yourself wondering about the sandwich in your kitchen or down the street, or maybe about that guy who took your money in 2nd grade. If nothing else, the redeeming grace is that the story could serve as a message as to why being emotional and rebelling against parents is much better than simply storing it all away. If I thought about it more, there would be plenty to say about the themes and messages of the film, but I'm still too distracted by the quality of the film to care.

Conclusion

Although the film's story has a good payoff eventually, it takes a long time to build up interest despite excellent actors and performances. The cinematagraphy is decent, but in the end Bromell needs more time to hone his tone and develop his writing ability. His directing carries some promise since there is a payoff and he is able to get the actors to maintain the weird and tense relationships, but he seems to have a hard time in bolstering audience empathy because all of the characters seem so disturbed and removed from the "general" audience member. If you are a huge John Ritter fan or you just love Macy (me!), then see this film. Otherwise, this film deserves a :
2.75 out of 5


Wannabe