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Director: Paul Schrader
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 1.5
Schrader - in the most obvious way - juxtaposes the wholesome mores of suburbia with Bob Crane's sexual addiction in this biopic - I feel like I learned more (ironically) from the television specials and documentary-type programs. The cast is truly superb - and Greg Kinnear is a dead-ringer for Crane - but Schrader's approach is rudimentary, and the switch from steady camera setups in the beginning to shaky, 'unstable' handheld work (and rapid cutting) to represent Crane's mental state is more distracting than effective. The ominous presence of religion is there as well, like in Schrader's Taxi Driver, wherein God's (and society's) pious wrath has some influence on his character's private obsessions.
