Palmetto Review
by Edward Champion (edchamp AT slip DOT net)March 29th, 1998
MOVIE REVIEW: PALMETTO
RATING: *1/2 (out of four stars)
Review by Edward Champion
PALMETTO is based off of a 1920's James Hadley Chase novella
by the name of JUST ANOTHER SUCKER. And you'll certainly feel one
after this movie.
Don't get me wrong. It goes without saying that noir is a
venerable genre of film to work with, a dramatic and visual form that
causes the cinephile's eyes to light up in wonder. Femme fatales,
murky shadows and the sleazy underbelly of urban existence have
continued to ignite audiences for years ever since the words of James
M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson and Dashiel Hammett first
appeared in hard-boiled pulps and their subsequent cinematic
adaptations made it to the screen.
But like the Western, noir has had a hard time re-emerging.
PALMETTO's plot is nothing to write home about. Your standard
guy-gets-out-of-jail-gets-involved-with-sexy-chick-screwing-and-screwed-over-involved-in-double-cross kind of thing. Not to use too many hyphens or anything, but the plot
is just that derivative. A kidnapping scheme that a schmuck becomes
unwittingly involved in.
Unlike such recent neo-noirs as RED ROCK WEST, THE LAST
SEDUCTION or even U-TURN, acclaimed German director Volker Schlondorff
fails to find a creative way to merge the noir elements with the
'90's. DNA is thrown in, as is some chemical used by coroners and
funeral homes to dispose of bodies. But the rough-and-tumble viscera
of shady characters and stunning visuals are distinctly lacking here,
marred by implausibility.
Writer E. Max Frye, who started off strong with SOMETHING WILD
and seems to have deteriorated into this, has taken every cliché in
the book, thrown it into the leftover stew, and created a mess of a
movie predictable to anyone who has seen at least one noir in their
lifetime.
Harrelson, Shue and Gershon are all capable leads but in the
hands of Frye and Schlondorff, they appear confused and misguided,
merely in this one for the paycheck. The casting of Harrelson in the
sucker role should have worked. In a sense, casting an all-American
likable '90's guy like Harrelson is an intriguing novelty. But we
never know anything about him other than that he's a writer who smokes
a lot of cigarettes and only works with a typewriter.
What probably kills this movie most effectively is its unbelieviblity.
At one point, Harrelson gets hired to report on the
kidnapping. Except, he's never there. He steps out for lunch and
disappears. The cops don't even consider the possibility that he's a
suspect (even after his boots match with the footprints, even after a
witness describes him perfectly as he's standing behind the two-way
mirror).
There's a scene with Harrelson giving a press release in which
literally gallons of sweat drip off of his forehead. At this point in
the movie, it's been raining a lot in Palmetto. Even considering
Harrelson's nervousness, even with a good deal of humidity in the
room, even allowing the film some suspension of disbelief, the simple
fact is that you're not going to be smudging the page below you with
huge flotillas of sweat.
Then there's Gershon as the girl friend. What sane woman
would believe Harrelson is innocent when all the clues point to him?
When a determined teetotaler starts drinking? When a piece of
expensive artwork mysteriously disappears without a reasonable
explanation? When the guy you've been supporting is so obviously
sleeping with someone else?
It doesn't stop there. Gershon actively acts as an accessory
in trying to clear Woody's name.
The more you look at the story, the more you can tear it
apart.
The film has nothing visually interesting to offer save
close-ups of a palmetto bug creeping along with a pumped-up
soundtrack. But, even here, the arty symbolism is so flagrant, so
actively insulting towards any audience member, that you have to
immediately discount it.
What you're left with is essentially nothing except occasional
star power, a predictable conclusion and a major disappointment from
all the talent involved.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
