Falling Down

Directed by: Joel Schumacher Written by: Ebbe Roe Smith Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Rachel Ticotin, Barbara Hershey

Moderately interesting but deeply flawed urban fable/nightmare. Douglas is very good as a laid-off defense worker who goes bonkers. The problem is that he really IS bonkers (that becomes clear) and so he loses sympathy rather fast. What might have made for appealing customer rebellion turns into the rather distasteful spectacle of a heavily armed wacko terrorizing (mostly) innocent bystanders. The set-piece in the surplus store, rather than invigorating (or even exciting) is mostly flat and ugly, one sickness superseded by another (better armed) sickness. Aside from Douglas', the rest of the roles are sadly underwritten. Even Duvall, always a worthy actor, is given precious little to do, and the insipid asides with his harpy wife add nothing. Ticotin is wasted, and her interplay with Duvall smacks of bad TV. Worse yet, though Douglas performs well, we never really learn anything about him, never understand his character, why he does what he does (aside from the too-easy answer that he's crazy). The real problem with the picture is that I could not tell--and I have a feeling that neither could the filmmakers--what the perspective of the picture really is.

Is Douglas supposed to represent the trod-upon Everyman who has finally had enough and shows it? Or is this a cautionary tale about the hidden human bombs that lurk among us, ready to explode at the slightest provocation--like if a hamburger isn't cooked properly. Ultimately, the filmmakers don't leave us with anything to hold onto. There is no worthy duel between Douglas and Duvall; they don't even set them up as doppelgangers. And by pushing Douglas so far over the edge, they remove any chance that we might see a little bit of ourselves in him, that we might actually be able to cheer him as someone who does, in fact, stand up for his--and our--rights. (3/2/93)