King of the Jungle Review
by Harvey S. Karten (film_critic AT compuserve DOT com)October 31st, 2001
KING OF THE JUNGLE
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
UrbanWorld Films
Director: Seth Zvi Rosenfeld
Writer: Seth Zvi Rosenfeld
Cast: John Leguizamo, Julie Carmen, Rosario Dawson, Cliff Gorman, Rosie Perez, Justin Pierce, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Marisa Tomei
Screened at: Loews Screening Rm., NYC 10/30/01
If you witnessed the murder of a person near and dear to you, say, your mom, you might react in various ways. You could rush over to the body, then call the police...or you might charge after the killer and exact vengeance on the spot without waiting for the authorities to go through the paperwork and hassle of a trial. In "King of the Jungle," writer-director Seth Zvi Rosenfeld posits a situation of this sort through a different lens. He focuses his story on a mentally-challenged 25-year-old, Seymour Weinstein (John Leguizamo), who is estranged from his father Jack (Cliff Gorman) and lives with his mother Mona (Julie Carmen) and Mona's lesbian lover, Joanne (Rosie Perez). Given the special family situation he is in and especially because he has the communication skills of a five-year-old, Seymour has a unique way of dealing with the problem. Thus, Mr. Rosenfeld's offbeat yarn, which is not so much a murder mystery but what passes for a delayed coming-of-age story about a lad from a dysfunctional family living with two women who are in what's called an alterative relationship.
Probably meant as an opportunity for Mr. Leguizamo to strut his stuff in a tour de force performance, "King of the Jungle" is that but it's more as well. The Colombian-born 36-year-
old Leguizamo, who has shown his depth as a performer in a one-man show in New York, "Mambo Mouth" but who is
celebrated on a larger scale for his film work in such popular movies as the intriguing "The Summer of Sam" and the throwaway "What's the Worst That Could Happen," does some rain-man shtick that could be the envy of Dustin Hoffman. Compulsively scratching his head and talking at times almost incoherently--exhibiting a difficulty in focusing on a conversation for more than 10 seconds--Seymour exudes the sweetness of a guy living in a dangerous area of Manhattan who has not succumbed to the violence of the street. In one scary scene he is even intimidated by a woman about his own age with a box- cutter who forces him to repeat an absurdly obscene statement about his (nonexistent) sexual proclivities.
The most auspicious aspect of the story, I think, is not so much the murder of his mom and Seymour's search for justice but the way people in the audience not familiar with inner-city life except for what they see in the most commercialized Hollywood fare are allowed to observe the contrast between the friendliness of some of the denizens of West 96th Street in Manhattan and the irrational activities that sometimes occur therein. With the exception of one young woman's taunting of the mentally retarded Seymour, he is greeted as one of the fellas by the athletes on the 24-hour basketball court and especially by his best pal, Francis (Michael Rapaport)--who irresponsibly gives the confused and pained Seymour a gun.
While his ethnically Puerto Rican mother, Mona, is a fire-eating civil rights leader, amassing a group to demonstrate against police brutality, the most involving relationship in this story is that of Seymour with his Jewish dad, Jack, who is a published poet and who--because he considers himself a borderline genius--is in denial about his son's mental incapacity. Insisting pointlessly that the young man "grow up" and move out of his mother's quarters, and contending that his son is not at all retarded but is merely a hustler, Jack is to engage in a dramatic confrontation with Seymour on a basketball court which in a matter of moments is to change the lives of the two players.
"King of the Jungle" features an interesting ensemble cast with Marisa Tomei playing against type as a police detective and Rosie Perez in her first lesbian role as a woman who beds down with her lover while wearing a childish nightgown but must suddenly mature when confronted with the woman's violent death. A modern, urban tale perhaps influenced by John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" (about a sweet simpleton and his frustrated protector), "King of the Jungle" may have a contrived plot but succeeds admirably as a character study with Leguizamo broadening and deepening his appeal as an over-the-top
performer.
Rated R. Running time: 99 minutes. (C) 2001 by
Harvey Karten, [email protected]
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