Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Baxter

This is topic The Baxter in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 09-26-2005, 09:07 PM:

I'd been waiting well over a year for this gem to come around to 'ol Minneapolis. Small release dates east of my town kept the man behind Wet Hot American Summer off local screens for long past his first directorial venture's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. I sat in anticapation with three others at the first of only two daily shows at Landmark's Lagoon Theatre. What finally greeted me after the same set of indie comedy trailers I'd seen all summer at Landmark Theatres was a perfect compliment to Michael Showalter's troubled Coop from Wet Hot, an obtusely old-fashioned Elliot Sherman; not a revolutionary character in this story about stereotypical rom-com happenings in old New York, but a well crafted, and executed character in this salute to the screwball comedies of the 50's.

The film goes through the motions of every bad relationship situation imaginable falling upon poor Elliot. His relationship with Cecil is awkardly pure and his battle with Justin Theroux, his bride-to-be Caroline's enthrallingly evil exboyfriend is satisfyingly sweet; even if it does mean Elliot's intended downfall.

A perfect compliment to the style of Wet Hot and the TV series Stella, The Baxter felt like a satisfying sigh over a lifetime of troubled relationships both on and off the screen. Nothing new, persay, but nothing appropriate was left out of this over-the-top gem.

Landmark's Lagoon #3
SRD, clean your plates and fix your masking!