Fever
by Larry Elikann
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Armand Assante, Joe Spano, John Achorn, John Dennis Johnston, Steve RankinDirector: Larry Elikann
Brand: HBO HOME VIDEO
Writer: Larry Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-07-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Movie Reviews of Fever
Movie Review: Panic in Needle Park rewritten as A Fish Called Wanda; sort of!
Summary: 4 Stars
I tread into this review with reservations as I did not and could not believe for a second the affair between the Neill and Harden characters. I will give allowances for this being an older HBO TV production, and I agree with the other reviewer that the Junkman character needed serious reworking, I found the entire gay sadist angle far too disruptive - on the other hand as a narrative catalyst the writer had to find something so heinous that even his fellow prisoners were willing to do anything to revenge themselves on him. Fine, make him a sadist, just leave it at the ordinary garden variety sadist - or - an unrepentant racist that no one can stomach. Again, to get that angle the writer is in danger of also revolting the audience.
But that is an aside; is there a reason to watch this film? For Harden and Assante fans yes; but, for anyone devoted to Sam Neill? Well, talk about mis-casting. It is almost as if this were two different films in two different genres; one gritty and a bit of low rent Panic in Needle Park (for Harden/Assante) and the other a cultural crime caper/comedy closer to a Fish Called Wanda (for Harden/Neill)! So which movie did I like? There were positives for both films (sorry but there are two films here) and it became surreal when the two try to blend, or just overlap if you will. Neill seems to have known he was in on an absurdist take on the stereotype of the law-abiding lawyer and could barely keep from laughing through some of his lines (I particularly liked his abrupt profanity during a phone call in front of his clients, an elderly grandma type and her son or grandson). He even explodes into a near comic hysteria when he has to remind the Assante character that he is a tax paying citizen and lawyer for crying out loud! (Presumably all lawyers are choir boys).
Neill was not favored by this film, and I don't know how he found himself in it; personally I would have left that character out all together. It would have been enough of a challenge for the Harden/Assante characters to reconnect as a couple, as people who are determined not to go back to what they had been. The Junkman could still have abducted her etc, that whole story arc could have stayed; but adding Neill was a disservice to him as an actor as that role was written.
As for the Harden/Assante couple, when they were on screen together they were fine, convincing and the scene in his apartment where he is misting and talking to his plants was actually touching because we see her touched and softening and remembering. I thought they were quite good together and I had no problem understanding Assante's lines. There was another odd conjunction: Neill's clipped, pampered enunciation and Assante's brutalized street voice.
So, give it a try, but I do agree with the other reviewer, making the common enemy of both male leads into some gay virago just threw the whole effort askew, which is a waste of what it could have been. Even for a TVM.
Summary of Fever
Synopsis:Item Type: Unknown Type
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 07/25/06
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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