My First Mister Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)September 3rd, 2002
MY FIRST MISTER (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
August 31st, 2002
RATING: Two stars and a half
Leelee Sobieski has an earthy, ethereal presence that makes you fall in love with her. She has narrowly shaped-eyes that can see what you are really thinking, and you feel wrong to tell her anything but the truth. Sobieski is perfectly cast in "My First Mister," and yet she is miscast. How can this be? I am not sure but the last thing I'd ever expect her to play is a Goth chick who scribbles endless versions of her own eulogy. She is not Goth the way that Fairuza Balk would be, and has been. There is something deeply disturbing and irksome about Sobieski in this film and yet something soulful and serene about her. Putting it midly, she is the star of the show.
Sobieski plays Jennifer, or "J" as she prefers, a cynical, misunderstood and misunderstanding teenage girl who listens to punk rock music, writes poetic phrases about death (and pricks her finger to make bloody marks on the pages), dresses in black, has dozens of piercings (though not on any private parts), and wears her hair in shades of black and purple. She despises her mother (Carol Kane) for being so blandly and fakely happy, dismisses her stepfather (Michael McKean), hates her real father, a stoner (John Goodman), and basically feels alienated from her high school peers and teachers (she even imagines a teacher with fangs snarling at her). Who can this girl relate to?
One fine day, after getting fired from her job, she meets a meek, anal retentive man named Randall (Albert Brooks), who owns a clothing store at the local mall. She tries to get a job at the store and he dismisses her. Slowly, though, after making crude remarks about his beer belly, they develop an unusual friendship based on mutual needs. Both of them are loners and they begin to know each other intimately. Randall sees a forlorn teenager who needs someone to listen to her. Jennifer sees Randall as a man who cannot relate to anyone based on fear of people, and who would rather settle for an evening reading a magazine than having a conversation. They open their eyes to each other's faults and misgivings about people in their lives, including lovers, ex-wives, and crazy parents.
"My First Mister" is nothing new but it has a stunningly good premise. A punk rock teenager who could get her "eyeballs pierced" sharing small talk with a straight-as-an-arrow store manager is ripe for good laughs, and I do mean as comedic material. Of course, opposites do attract but, in the real world, it is unlikely such a union could take place (or maybe I do not get out much at the local malls). I had a hard time believing that this could develop into a relationship beyond sharing small talk, and I think I was right. First-time director Christine Lahti (who won an Academy Award for a short film she directed) directs everything in the first hour with ease and just enough pizazz to make us wonder where this strange relationship will go. Unfortunately, as with most similar tales, it takes a route headed into that deadly maudlin road where forgiveness is possible and people can change 180 degrees from their initial behavior. Let's consider Jennifer for a moment - she talks about killing herself and she wounds herself with sharp objects. Randall notices all this so the logical solution would be that Jennifer needs help, or is merely crying for help. Or she is just a rebel without a cause? A goth chick who makes a mockery out of any and everyone suddenly warms up to Randall because he is so lonely? Something doesn't quite click here. Either A.) Make Jennifer just a hopeless rebel goth chick who has a talent for poetry and needs to belong to something or B.) Make her a mental case who needs help fast. Both ideas coincide uneasily and the problem with this kind of screenwriting is that it assumes the audience has amnesia. The Jennifer at the start of the film and at the end of the film seem to be two different people.
And surprisingly enough, "My First Mister" warrants a viewing because of Leelee Sobieski. No matter how many left turns the script takes, Leelee stole my heart and made me wish her character would better her life (the scene where she reconciles with her mother, though, left a lot to be desired). I would have eliminated the character of Randall's son completely, and focused on other aspects of Randall (like his relationship with the nurse played by Mary Kay Place). Anything but the son which seems to come from a different movie. Lovely Leelee and Albert Brooks make it worthwile in the long run. Still, for a movie that begins like the phemonenal "Ghost World" only to end up as a Lifetime special is pushing credibility a little too far.
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