Rick

This year’s film festival had a lot of mediocre and even bad movies, but Rick stands apart as the absolute worst. Though it’s got a talented cast and a famous screenwriter (Daniel Handler is the man responsible for the ridiculously successful Lemony Snicket series of children’s books) behind it, the movie just doesn’t work at all. Bill Pullman stars as the titular Rick, a beleaguered businessman dealing with various irritations. His daughter (played by Agnes Bruckner) is involved in a cyber-sexual relationship with his sleazy boss (Aaron Stanford), and it becomes clear that Rick doesn’t approve at all. He meets a contract killer named Buck (Dylan Baker), and the two conspire to eliminate Rick’s employer. Almost immediately, Rick adopts an unappealing tone of smugness – as though Handler’s written the script as a private joke that the uninitiated will be unable to penetrate. Not a single character behaves the way a normal person would; the film seems to transpire in some kind of alternate version of our reality, where manners and other typical forms of conduct no longer exist. Rick‘s oddball sense of humor – Buck’s character mentions that he has his own company, and his card says “My Own Company” on it – is essentially the opposite of funny, to the point where you have to wonder what kind of drugs Handler was on when he wrote it. Add to that an obnoxious and distracting accordian score (no, really), and you’ve got a recipe for a film that’s thoroughly unpleasant on so many levels. What a waste.

no stars out of ****