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REVIEWSPREVIEWS
Dummy
Dummy is a romantic comedy whose main strength lies in the sensitive interface that defines its protagonists.
Twenty-nine-year-old Steven Schoichet (Adrien Brody) hails from a dysfunctional Jewish family where he leads a non-existent life. His father (Ron Leibman) builds model ships, his mother (Jessica Walter) is only concerned about feeding others and his sister (Illeana Douglas) is a wedding planner who is going through an aborted engagement with an accountant (Jared Harris). Steven is hapless in the social department. His neighbour Fangora (Milla Jovovich), who dreams of being a hotshot rocker, also happens to be his best friend. Upon losing his job, Steven decides to chase his lifelong dream of practising ventriloquism. He also happens to succumb to the charms of his unemployment counsellor (Vera Farmiga).
Dummy is an emotive story whose extraordinary ordinariness is sure to tug at the heartstrings of anyone who has ever dared to dream. A neat ensemble of well-assorted characters has given a diversified expression to the movie. Brody proves that he can bring high-quality comedy to the screen with the skill of a specialist. He showcases the budding talents that led him to pick up the best actor award for his performance as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Holocaust survivor in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. Considering that this is a debut from writer and director Greg Pritikin, Dummy is not half bad after all. —Taimur Saleem
Green Card Fever
Green Card Fever is the latest in a string of movies which depict the difficulties of desis trying to fit into the West. The movie portrays the ways, by hook or by crook, people manage to reach the land of opportunity and then try to change their status from illegal immigrants to lawful citizens. The focus is on how they get hoodwinked by shady lawyers who run thriving rackets exploiting these illegal workers.
The main story is that of a young man played by Vikram Dasu who sneaks into the States under the guise of a singer performing in a concert. When his temporary visa expires, he is left running from pillar to post for the elusive Green Card. In his endeavour, he comes across an obnoxious Indian immigrant lawyer (Deep Katdare), the other main lead, who’s disgusted with his fellow countrymen. He falls in love with an American desi woman (Purva Bedi) who’s being cajoled by her parents to choose an Indian husband, until she finally falls into the hands of the shifty lawyer.
Instead of creating a three-pronged storyline, the makers should have gone for a single-track plot so that they could have focused on the issue at hand. By going with three parallel tales, the main issue is just touched upon superficially. The result: the subject’s importance is going to make people sit up and take notice, but the effort is going to be soon forgotten. —Saqib Khan
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