This film serves no purpose. Think about it, a sequel to a film
few have
seen, and was never considered a masterpiece in the first place.
Where is the
demand for that? Well, apparently a few critics with very long
memories, have the
name “Henry Fool” still stuck in the recesses of our minds, and
when the name
was mentioned, a slight interest was peaked.
I don't remember how “Henry Fool” ended my review of he film,
which took me
forever to find, and all it mentions is that it was that the
dialogue was too
literary and everyone talked in full paragraphs.
That's how that this thing starts too. The film starts with the
titular
character, Fay Grim(Parker Posey), arriving at a posh private
school for a
parent-teacher conference with the principal. Apparently, her
son Ned(Liam Aiken) has
been showing a mysterious toy, which is sort of a pornographic
Viewmaster® to
all his classmates. She's carrying her groceries with her for
some reason, and
doesn't return home with them before visiting her brother
Simon's(James Urb
aniak) publisher Angus James(Chuck Montgomery). This is
apparently a giveaway of
the cartoonish nature of the film.
The reason Angus wanted to see Fay is to see if she has copies
of her missing
husband Henry Fool's(Thomas Jay Ryan) mysterious and bad
“confessions, for
which there is apparently a demand for, since Simon's work has
become so
popular. Simon, by the way, has been languishing in the pokey
for giving his plane
ticket to Henry sometime between the end of the last film and
this one, and
the CIA has been looking for him ever since.
In fact, Agents Fulbright(Jeff Goldblum) and Carl Fogg(Leo
Fitzpatrick) show
up at Fay's door to say that after all these years they need her
help to
retrieve them, and in return for springing Simon, agrees to
help.
There's little that makes sense here, the French and Israelis
are after the
volumes, and as are the ever so mysterious Bebe(Elina Lowensohn),
may or may
not be a spy, and Juliet(Saffron Burrows) who definitely is. At
some point in
the film, the narrative changes from an act of cinematic
masturbation to an
actual thriller. The fact that Hartley was able to get plane
tickets for some of
the cast and film a few exteriors in Paris and Istanbul really
helped. They
also blow up a van. That always is welcome.
In the end, it turns out to be an interesting film, but it takes
forever to
work up enough steam. If you are fan of the first film, then
this is a
no-brainer. But I'm not sure whether or not seeing this without
renting “Henry Fool”
is advisable..
Eric Lurio
Richard E. Schiff
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Richard E. Schiff
