Skip the Beginners

Skilled actor though he is, Christopher Plummer has never won an Oscar. All the critical buzz says that's about to change in a few weeks, as he's the odds-on favorite to take the Best Supporting Actor prize for his role in Beginners. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Based on the real life story of its writer-director, Beginners is the story of a man whose 75-year old father comes out to him as gay... and then dies of cancer just a few short years later. The film pops back and forth in time as the man reflects on his own failed attempts to meet the right person, and contrasts his new relationship with the few short years his father got to live openly and happily after four decades in a "traditional" marriage.

The real star of the film is Ewan McGregor, whose budding relationship with Mélanie Laurent is the spine of the story. Christopher Plummer's much lauded performance is "supporting" in the truest sense of the word; a loveable Jack Russell terrier commands nearly as much screen time. The love story starts out sweet and quirky, but the laughs dry up very quickly. Interesting moments are too few and far between.

What results feels very much like an obscure foreign film. Long scenes full of "meaning" in what isn't said stretch on for minutes. Strange, "artistic" intercuts in time rule the narrative. Odd dramatic "choices" are thrown in to imply grandeur, such as the decision to subtitle the silent stares of the dog with dialogue.

And as for Christopher Plummer? Well, he's good. But Oscar good? If he does indeed win, I'll count it as one of those "body of work" awards that the Academy always seems to give out, recognizing a performer who really should have been recognized for some other film earlier in his or her career. I hardly think a half-century veteran of film should finally be awarded just for taking the supposed risk of playing gay. Millions of gays and lesbians play straight every day, even more convincingly, and they're not winning any awards for it.

Unless, of course, the award would be saying that the movie would be unbearable entirely without the talents of its cast? That, I could probably get behind. The Herculean efforts of Plummer and McGregor did manage to pull a laugh or two out of me even after long stretches where I was fighting to stay awake. But as for the movie itself? A plodding D+ that I really can't recommend to anyone.