'XX/XY' A PREDICTABLE LOOK AT AFTERMATH OF LOVE TRIANGLE.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic 'XX/XY'' IS SUCH a seriously intended relationship study that its first-time writer/director, Austin Chick, often neglects to make it interesting. The movie starts off provocatively enough. Animation artist/borderline stalker Coles (Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (born November 22, 1967) is an American actor. Biography Early life Ruffalo was born in the industrial town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the son of second-generation Italian American parents Marie Rose, a hairdresser and stylist, and Frank Lawrence , taking his lovable screw-up from ``You Can Count on Me'' to unsavory, narcissistic nar·cis·sism also nar·cism n. 1. Excessive love or admiration of oneself. See Synonyms at conceit. 2. A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in lengths) follows young Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College, at Bronxville, N.Y.; primarily for women; chartered 1926, opened 1928 as Sarah Lawrence College for Women; renamed 1947. It is noted for its creative arts program. student Sam (Maya Stange) from the subway to a party. They hook up with her friend Thea (``90210's'' Kathleen Robertson). It's 1993 - a time of sexual experimentation, we're told - so the three retire to a dorm room for what appears to be dumb sport. Until Sam starts crying. The next thing we know, she and Coles are kind of a couple, although bad-girl Thea hangs around representing temptation to them both. Coles, whose idea of intimate conversation is to declare things like ``I'm never growing up,'' frustrates Sam's efforts to deepen their relationship. Then, on one of many blitzed blitzed adj. Slang Drunk or intoxicated. , semi-clad nights, Coles and Thea ... Ten years later, Coles is a failed independent film director and fairly successful New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of ad man. He lives in a nice apartment with his girlfriend of five years, Claire (Petra Wright), and is as on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. as this guy gets to final commitment. But then a chance run-in with Sam brings back old desires. Thea, unexpectedly happily married at this point, gets in touch, too, and warm socializing is enjoyed by all. But Coles and Sam ... You can't always get what you want. Did you ever have to make up your mind? Insert your favorite ain't-love-complicated pop song title here. Chick may think that he's examining this age-old triangular conflict in a fresh, up-to-the-minute way. But when it's as easy to predict half the dialogue that comes out of anybody's mouth as it is watching ``XX/XY,'' there obviously isn't much new and exciting being said here. Aside from deconstructing a common guy double fantasy early on and pretending that he's not working soap opera mechanics the rest of the time, Chick's most notable accomplishment is the creation of fairly complex characters whom he doesn't betray with audience-friendly personality qualities. But just writing someone who is lost and selfish is not the same thing as making them compellingly flawed. That said, ``XX/XY'' is not a bad start for a filmmaker who obviously cares about what makes people tick. Soon, it seems evident, he'll be able to make us care as much as he does. XX/XY - Two and one half stars (R: sex, nudity, drug use, language, mild violence) Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Maya Stange, Kathleen Robertson, Petra Wright. Director: Austin Chick. Running time: 1 hr. 31 min. Playing: Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Sunset 5, West Hollywood; NuWilshire, Santa Monica; University 6, Irvine. In a nutshell: A college menage a trois ménage à trois n. A relationship in which three people, such as a married couple and a lover, live together and have sexual relations. [French : ménage, household + à, for has decade-long repercussions repercussions npl → répercussions fpl repercussions npl → Auswirkungen pl . It all seems emotionally honest, but plays out predictably. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Mark Ruffalo and Petra Wright are on the verge of marriage when two women from his past resurface re·sur·face v. re·sur·faced, re·sur·fac·ing, re·sur·fac·es v.tr. To cover with a new surface: resurfacing a road; resurfaced the floor. v.intr. in ``XX/XY.'' |
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