Films In Review » Niels Mueller

THE ASSASINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (Stephanie)

Stephanie Rabinowitz — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:09:21 +0000

Presented by Anhelo Productions / Worldwide sales by Senator International
No MPAA rating / 103 minutes

If maintaining objectivity has never been your strong suit, have no fear. Watching Niels Mueller’s THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON could be that master class in stenographer-level impartiality you’ve been waiting for your whole life. With all the trappings of an Oscar contender – a thinking person’s A-list cast (Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle), a title that reeks of indie-importance, a first-time director with hip writing credits (TADPOLE, SWEET NOTHING) and a December release – the film seems destined for grand-slam greatness. As any self-respecting, pugnaciously unconditional Penn fan would do, you’re already busy puffing up your chest and proclaiming you memorized the screenplay of THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN in college (de rigeur Penn-man behavior). Yes, before you even enter the darkened theater, you and your Carlito-loving Raisinets are already raving. Sadly, this studiedly grainy, claustrophobic contribution to the descent-into-madness genre is excruciatingly boring, monotonous and Julia-Roberts-movie predictable.

Inspired by a true story about an everyman’s attempt to assassinate the 37th President of the United States, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON is a revisionist biopic of Sam Bicke (Sean Penn), a deeply lonely, paranoid office furniture salesman whose obsessive, irresponsible and unstable behavior has lost him his family. With a desperate and single-minded desire to win back his ex-wife Marie (Naomi Watts) and three children, Sam sets about pursuing his version of the American dream: to ultimately quit his job and open a tire-delivery business with his sole friend Bonny (Don Cheadle).

The year is 1974 and Sam’s progressive alienation from society is intended to mirror the corruption, scandal and hopelessness of that post-Watergate period. Operating increasingly from a dank apartment that’s cheaply reminiscent of Gene Hackman’s panic-inducing pad from THE CONVERSATION, Sam cannot endure the weight of perceived insults he experiences in everyday life. Moving through the universe with his weird blend of increasing hyper-sensitivity, nervous politesse and conspiracy paranoia, he finds the hard realities of life to be too much for him.

Sam’s relationship to work and responsibility constitute the framework for his ultimate meltdown. His attempts to put on a positive, conformist face for his sleazy, aggressive, controlling boss Jack (the fabulous Jack Thompson) quickly give way to a steroidal dose of malaise and distrust. Sam is “subject” to countless acts of “humiliation” and “abuse”. Jack gives him a copy of Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People,’ instructing him to live and breathe it. Later, Jack demands that Sam shave his mustache to look more like a “family man”. Sam nearly explodes. After making repeated, unscheduled and glassy-eyed visits to a loan officer at the Small Business Administration, Sam is sternly informed that his application will indeed take the usual two months for processing. After making repeated, unscheduled and glassy-eyed visits to his ex-wife’s house, Sam is sternly informed by Marie that she doesn’t want him coming around anymore. Obsessed with racial inequality and the idea that he too, the working stiff, is a second-class citizen, Sam wields a gun, pantomiming the killing of an ill-tempered customer of Bonny’s.

This all might be riveting if it weren’t for the fact that the events leading up to the highly aborted assassination attempt are painfully repetitive, quotidian and anti-climactic. Oh, and that includes the assassination attempt itself, too. Cinema’s rich and venerable tradition of anti-hero crack-ups are a tough act to follow, no doubt: De Niro’s Travis Bickle, Pacino’s Sonny Wortzik, Hackman’s Harry Caul, Nicholson’s Jack Torrance, Douglas’s William Foster, De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin etc. With those classic celluloid moments in mind, a leading man venturing into a loss-of-tenuous-grip-on-reality assignment might very well be itching for a beta-blocker, come his first day on the set. But, this isn’t any leading man. It’s a terrible thing to even think, but Penn’s Sam Bicke is more like Penn’s Sam Dawson (I AM SAM) than anything else.

Watching THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON, one gets the distinct, creepy feeling that Mueller’s directorial debut was held hostage by a major leading man’s insatiable need to fill the screen with an overwrought, over-acted two-hour close-up. If you still insist on plunking down a crispy Hamilton to witness this incredible act of onanism, a quick re-viewing of TAXI DRIVER and three to four boxes of Raisinets may be your only hope of survival.

Credits:
Director: Niels Mueller
Screenwriters: Niels Muller, Kevin Kennedy
Producers: Alfonso Cuaron, Jorge Vergara
Director of photography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Editor: Jay Cassidy
Production designer: Lester Cohen
Music: Steven Stern

Cast:
Sam Bicke: Sean Penn
Marie Bicke: Naomi Watts
Bonny: Don Cheadle
Jack Jones: Jack Thompson
Martin Jones: Brad Henke
Tom Ford: Nick Searcy
Julius Bicke: Michael Wincott
Harold Mann: Mykelti Williamson

THE ASSASINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (Victoria)

Victoria Alexander — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:05:33 +0000

Presented by Anhelo Productions / Worldwide sales by Senator International
No MPAA rating / 103 minutes

QUOTE: Penn’s performance commands attention.

I see more movies than I review. If you see as many movies as I do, you become anesthetized to bad acting. As long as actors say their lines and don’t make too many faces, you accept it as standard movie acting. Then along comes a performance like Charlize Theron’s in MONSTER. I was emailing back and forth with a fan and she wrote: “No matter what Theron does in the future, we’ll always have her performance in MONSTER.” Yes, I agree. Theron was brilliant. As Roger Ebert wrote, and I agree, it was the greatest cinematic performance of all time.

This year there are five terrific performances: Imelda Staunton in “Vera Drake,” Anne Reid in “The Mother,” Jim Caviezel in “The Passion of the Christ,” Christian Bale in “The Machinist” and Sean Penn in “The Assassination of Richard Nixon.”

THE MACHINIST and THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON are both small, dark films hardly getting the kind of exposure lavished on THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and THE AVIATOR. While Bill Murray is being hailed as an acting genius, these two performances by Bale and Penn are remarkable in their subtlety. Even Murray would agree his praise for THE LIFE AQUATIC is overblown compared to these performances.

In 1974 Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) decided to assassinate President Richard Nixon. The President was lying about Watergate and Bicke became so obsessed with Nixon’s deceit that he decided to hijack a plane and blow up the White House.

THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON is the story of what led Bicke to his far-flung plan. Of course, it was not based on anything Nixon did personally to him or Bicke’s political philosophy. It was an expression of Bicke’s failure to live the American Dream.

Bicke has been newly hired as an office furniture salesman. He is separated from his waitress wife Marie (Naomi Watts) and their two children. Marie has moved on and really wants no part of Bicke. His boss Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) gives him Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People” as a primer for selling furniture. He has to follow certain rules spelled out on tapes. He knows it is a bunch of crap but his boss is a bully he must placate.

Bicke had a contentious relationship with his brother and left the family tire business. He now wants to start a mobile tire shop with his black mechanic friend Bonny (Don Cheadle). He’s applied for financial assistance through a small-business aid plan but is caught up in a bureaucracy that is not interested in helping him. He eventually lays blame at the feet of Richard Nixon. Bonny, on the other hand, is not surprised.

First-time director Niels Mueller and his co-screenwriter Kevin Kennedy understand this character’s frustration and gradual desperation. Bicke’s crummy environment and lack of respect are catalysts that push him towards placing blame on Nixon.

It is Penn’s searing performance that beats through the hollow lower-middle class terrain meticulously recreated here. How in the world can Penn relate to this man’s sense of emptiness and frustration? If you want to see a little man’s steady decline while slowly getting pushed up against a wall, watch Penn intensely inhabit the role. He shows us Bicke’s inner thought processes. Like MYSTIC RIVER, Penn holds our interest by bringing emotional chaos to a complicated character and allowing us to understand his actions.

(Charlize, I understand you want to do several more “I’m still really beautiful” roles before you return to acting, but at your age and with your fierce dedication, you have the opportunity to galvanize the profession by forcing your peers to start acting for their paychecks.)