THE VIEWER IS BETRAYED 'ARNOLD' RIVALS ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL FILM STRIP FOR DRAMA, INSIGHT.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic IF A&E HAD its stuff together, it might've marketed ``Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor'' thusly thus·ly adv. Usage Problem Thus. Usage Note: Thusly was introduced in the 19th century as an alternative to thus in sentences such as Hold it thus or He put it thus. : ``He was America's Original Bad Boy!'' For really, what can you say about a character who seems to be challenging someone to a duel every 20 minutes or so? And what is a line like ``Pray you, major - who ... is ... that ... angel?'' but the Revolutionary War's equivalent of ``That woman be fine!'' Or a line like ``My happiness has been deferred since the day I was born'' but olde-timey talk for ``Life sucks, then you die?'' Put James Franco in the role and you've got cinematic gold. Alas, the fogeys behind ``Benedict Arnold,'' a biopic/apologia concerning the nation's First Traitor, have opted for a peculiarly untenable approach: Treating the project like it's a big-budget grade-school history film. Performances are variously so wooden or so over-the-top that the viewer is induced into a double take - is that really Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (Irish: Aodhán Ó Cuinn) (born March 81959 in Rockford, Illinois,) is an Irish American actor also known as the Quinnster. Aidan Quinn was born in Rockford, Illinois. and Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is a six-time Emmy and a two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. on screen? This may be the first teleflick that would've been better had it been one of those old film strips to which many of us were so endlessly subjected in school, those things with still pictures accompanied by amateurish narration, punctuated by clamorous beeps instructing the teacher to proceed to the next frame. ``Benedict Arnold'' offers a revisionist re·vi·sion·ism n. 1. Advocacy of the revision of an accepted, usually long-standing view, theory, or doctrine, especially a revision of historical events and movements. 2. theory on the man whose name has become synonymous with abject betrayal - it wasn't his fault, this theory goes, as old Benedict was merely reacting to the treacherous acts of wormy worm·y adj. worm·i·er, worm·i·est 1. Infested with or damaged by worms. 2. Suggestive of a worm. worm Horatio Gates (Michael Grennell), slimy John Andre (John Light), slimier Joseph Reed (Stephen Hogan) and even his opportunistic second wife, Peggy (Flora Montgomery). Beeep! All of which might even be true, but as director Mikael Salomon presents it here, the argument is as dismayingly simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple as the ``Washington: good; Arnold: bad'' line we were all taught in grade-school social studies. As the film tells us, Washington (Grammer) loved and trusted Arnold (Quinn) as a brother, one who had led several heroic campaigns during the Revolutionary War. There's a head-scratching scene between the two men in which, when not luridly discussing the honeys in Phillie who favor men in uniform, deliver epigrammatic ep·i·gram·mat·ic also ep·i·gram·mat·i·cal adj. 1. Of or having the nature of an epigram. 2. Containing or given to the use of epigrams. speeches as if there's a historian in the room with them jotting down their every word. Beeep! But Arnold felt the new government was treating him disrespectfully, which led him to become a war profiteer, woo a Loyalist babe (Montgomery) and even plot with the British to ensnare Washington at West Point. Beeep Quinn, usually a reliably capable performer, here seems to alternate between channeling ``Batman''-era Adam West and attempting to outbellow ``The Field''-era Richard Harris. Grammer, ramrod-stiff, is stoically sto·ic n. 1. One who is seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain. 2. Stoic A member of an originally Greek school of philosophy, founded by Zeno about 308 turgid turgid /tur·gid/ (ter´jid) swollen and congested. tur·gid adj. Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated; tumid. turgid swollen and congested. as Washington. Compared with Grennell, Light and Hogan, however, theirs emerge as the nuanced turns. Given such synthetic performances, ``Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor'' decisively fails as both history and drama. The film notes that Arnold's defection in fact saved the nation, as outraged soldiers re- enlisted to battle against his type. Would that were true in Hollywood - that outraged filmmakers would, upon seeing this, redouble re·dou·ble v. re·dou·bled, re·dou·bling, re·dou·bles v.tr. 1. To double. 2. To repeat. 3. Games To double the doubling bid of (an opponent) in bridge. v. their efforts to make objective, compelling historical films. BENEDICT ARNOLD: A QUESTION OF HONOR - Two stars What: Historical biopic/apologia for America's most famous traitor, played by Aidan Quinn, with Kelsey Grammer an unlikely George Washington. Where: A&E. When: 8 and 10 p.m. tonight. In a nutshell: Grade-school-history-movie-level acting. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Aidan Quinn portrays the title figure in ``Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor'' tonight on A&E. |
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