My First Mister Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 18th, 2001
"My First Mister"
Academy Award winner Christine Lahti makes her feature film debut with "My First Mister," a tale about a relationship that grows between two lonely people, 17-year-old Jennifer (Lee Lee Sobieski) and 49-year-old Randall (Albert Brooks).
Jennifer, or "J" as she prefers, is a troubled, Goth-influenced teenager who feels alienated by everyone around - her mother, her teachers and her fellow students. She has no friends, to speak of, but does have the desire to get the heck out of her folks home and into her own apartment. But, that takes money. Cruising the mall by herself, as usual, she sees that a men's clothing store is in need of a storeroom clerk, but the owner (Brooks) thinks her multi-pierced appearance will scare away his customers. She tones down her Goth looks, looses the facial jewelry and Randall (tagged "R" by his new young employee) agrees to give her a shot at the job.
A slow, steadily building relationship ensues as these two friendless folk begin to learn about each other and, unexpectedly, begin to like and then love each other. The years that separate them introduce conflict over the possibility of a May-September love affair and the film seems bent on exploring that romantic possibility. Then, the screenplay by TV writer Jill Franklin takes on an illness-of-the-week, made-for-TV tone that completely diverts from the nicely developing relationship between J and R. At the unexpected juncture when J finds Randall collapsed in the street, we suddenly find out that he has been suffering from a long-term, debilitating illness that is killing him.
With R ensconced in the hospital, J sets off on the road to find his ex-wife of 19 years before. She discovers that the woman was recently killed in a car crash and has a son, Randy (Desmond Harrington), apparently the spawn of Randall. J brings the son home and springs R from the hospital for one last fling with his and her family. The melodramatic turn of the film alters the story from its initial tale of two people finding each other, as friends, across generations into a formulaic tearjerker that would be best left on the small screen.
The changes that Jennifer undergoes during the course of "My First Mister," looks-wise are actually quite amusing. As the troubled Goth chick, she's dresses entirely in black and has a plethora of piercing, mainly on her face and who knows where else. As she undergoes a metamorphosis into a "normal" looking young lady, her costume and hairdo change to make her look like a Jewish matron. Sobieski does her darndest with the awkward role, but the young actress is too burdened with the leaden material. Albert Brooks deals out his patented dry wit throughout and tries his best to save the floundering story but, in the end, the task is too daunting. Supporting cast, including Carol Kane (as J's dim-bulb mom), John Goodman (as Jennifer's hippie, estranged dad) and Mary Kay Place (as R's nurse/friend), does its best but the script, too, buries them with maudlin melodrama. Michael McKean is lost as J's ineffectual stepfather.
Lahti, who earned an Oscar for her short film "Lieberman in Love," benefits from her two stars but offers nothing unique or original on the directing front. There is a static feel to the film that neglects the actors in favor of the contrived story of life, love and death. I had hopes for a breakthrough film by the talented, young Sobieski, but this isn't the movie that is going to be that catalyst. On the strength of the perfs by Lee Lee and Albert Brooks, I give "My First Mister' (an awkward title at best) a C-.
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