Simple Men

Stars: Robert Burke (The Unbelievable Truth, Robocop 3), William Sage, Martin Donovan (Trust, Surviving Desire). Falling somewhere between his The Unbelievable Truth and Trust in comic effectiveness, renegade filmmaker Hal Hartley's latest follows the misadventures of siblings in search of their father...sort of. Bill (Robert Burke), on the lam from a botched robbery, checks in at home, and hooks up with his younger college student brother Dennis (William Sage). The pair head for Long Island, looking for their escapee father, a one-time famous shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers-cum-anarchist, who was jailed on suspicion of bombing the Pentagon. After motorcycle mechanical troubles halt their progress, the brothers stay over at a small bed and breakfast, where Bill takes a shine to innkeeper Kate (whose psycho ex-hubby is on his way to his former home straight from the Big House), and Dennis becomes interested in epileptic houseguest Elina. The resultant film is not as interesting as the situation sounds. Very little in the way of a story ensues, and Hartley's talky humor--which tends to fly off on philosophical tangents at the drop of a metaphor--is like a dart game played by so-so players: some of the shots strike the funny bone, but many more bite the wall. Audience: Fans of the artsy-fartsy. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--Mar. 9, 2004--Image, 105 min., R, $14.99--Making its debut on DVD, Hal Hartley's 1992 Simple Men features an excellent, nicely color-saturated widescreen transfer, sharp Dolby Digital mono sound, and a five-minute original “making of” featurette. Bottom line: although not one of Hartley's best, and rather skimpy on extras, completists will want to add this handsomely-produced DVD, especially at the bargain price of $14.99.]