Review: A Slipping Down Life (**)

A SLIPPING DOWN LIFE
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): **


"Honey, you are way too qualified to be a rabbit," Violet (Sara Rue) tells
Evie Decker (Lili Taylor), her best friend. Evie, who works as a cashier
wearing a bunny suit at the Kiddie Acres amusement park, is a sad and
suicidal woman who tries to escape life by burying herself into her
headphones.



Toni Kalem's A SLIPPING DOWN LIFE is a quirky comedy that's best summarized
by a sign shown briefly: "Uneven Lane." Some of the dialog is zippy and
funny, but the characters are never convincing or compelling. It's easy to
see why the film has been gathering dust for over half a decade since it was
first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 1999. Why it
suddenly found a distributor is a mystery. A direct-to-video version could
have easily been relegated to the back of the video store shelves rather
than taking up valuable screen space at the theaters.



Evie finds her reason for living in Drumstrings "Drum" Casey (Guy Pearce), a
guy who collects golf balls at a driving range during the day and sings --
and speaks -- as a rocker in a local club at night. Drum likes to stop
singing and break into free verse during his concerts. His audience rightly
loathes his moments as a poet, which include such ditties as, "You bend.
You break. You disappear." and "If I tell you again, will you listen? I do
not want what I have got."



The movie will be remembered -- if it is remembered at all -- for Evie's act
of self-mutilation. She carves "YESAC" on her forehead, or at least that's
how most people pronounce it. The words are actually "CASEY," written in
mirror image, a form of tribute to the only love of her life, Drum. She
later laments that she didn't realize at the time that he went by the
shorter and easier to cut "DRUM."



The movie's biggest laugh comes from Faye-Jean Lindsay (Shawnee Smith),
Drum's extra-sleazy ex-girlfriend. In addition to painting the word "HORNY"
on her forehead with her lipstick, Faye-Jean tries to comfort the
disconsolate Drum by saying how many times in her life she too has messed
up. "I've blown some big ones too," she tells him with a big smile on her
face.



For a movie that really isn't very good, it does have its moments. But I've
probably already told you more than enough about the story. And I didn't
even have time to tell you about the blue-green tuna casserole in the shape
of a semi-circular fish that Evie bakes for a special occasion. In case you
miss the weirdness of the color, Evie's heavily stained fingers serve to
remind you.



A SLIPPING DOWN LIFE runs a long 1:41. It is rated R for "language
including sexual references" and would be acceptable for teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, June 4, 2004. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.



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