Fairly good at re-creating late 1960s antiwar protests and more or less covering the essential elements of its subject matter, "Steal This Movie!" is nonetheless a disappointingly square attempt to tell the story of radical Abbie Hoffman. While the time is always ripe for a risk-taking, post-MTV film about the political and cultural revolution in which Hoffman was a key figure, this "Steal" ain't it, folks.
An upcoming Lions Gate release that premiered Saturday at the Santa Barbara (Calif.) International Film Festival, "Steal" employs all of the tricks of biographical films and documentaries in a clumsy ploy to maintain a steady flow of information and entertainment early, then sustain tension during Hoffman's 1970s nightmare as a fallen hero in hiding and suffering from manic depression.
With Vincent D'Onofrio as Abbie and Janeane Garofalo as Anita Hoffman, "Steal" boasts freaky, often-fun performances, and one gets a big second-hand puff of the drug-holiday lives of Hoffman and comrades like Jerry Rubin (Kevin Corrigan). Sex, revolution, marijuana, music: We've been there a few times, but "Steal" also sets out to show what happens when merry pranksters transform into dangerous "enemies of the state."
Based on Abbie and Anita's Hoffman's book "To America With Love: Letters From the Underground" and Marty Jezer's "Abbie Hoffman American Rebel", "Steal" is screenwritten by Bruce Graham and Bob Ward, with cooperation from the late Anita Hoffman and input from several of the people portrayed, including Stew Albert (Donal Logue), Hoffman's lawyer Gerry Lefcourt (Kevin Pollak) and Tom Hayden (played by his real-life son Troy Garity).
Although it contains a few successful dramatic and intimate scenes -- with D'Onofrio and Garofalo well-matched and mostly believable in period garb -- "Steal" plays like an extended music video, with a complex plot incorporating many flashbacks and lots of archival footage and vintage music. Part history lesson, part "Citizen Yippie", the film is too schizoid in its agenda. But it has something to say to budding malcontents, who might be surprised at how brilliant and brave Hoffman was at staging demonstrations and symbolic acts.
When not reminding one of overblown biopics like "Up Close and Personal", prolific television and film director Robert Greenwald's "Steal" works hard to rise above its Oliver Stone Lite approach. By using multiple film stocks and employing voice-overs (mostly random samplings of FBI misdeeds) and even unnecessary graphics, Greenwald tries to push all of the obvious buttons, down to cliched courtroom speeches and scenes of Hoffman's tough times underground.
After a suspicious drug bust and his deliberate disappearance, during which he is forced to sever contact with Anita -- who continues to be harassed by the FBI's secret operations targeting radicals -- Hoffman is lucky to find another stick-by-her-freak type in Johanna Lawrenson (Jeanne Tripplehorn). But now he is estranged from his son America, and under an assumed name living with Lawrenson he suffers from severe mood swings. The film starts with a bearded, distraught Hoffman in 1977 contacting journalist David Glenn Alan Van Sprang), who helps start the process by which the lead (a k a Barry Freed) emerges to face a short prison sentence and overall redemption.
It's one hell of a story, but at nearly two hours -- and with an ultimately unwieldy structure that breezes by such historic events as the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the Chicago Seven trial -- D'Onofrio's wide-ranging performance is not enough, nor Garofalo's solid contributions, to prevent the manipulative filmmaking from undermining the experience to any irritating degree.
STEAL THIS MOVIE!
Lions Gate Releasing
A Greenlight production in association with Ardent Films
Credits: Director: Robert Greenwald; Screenwriters: Bruce Graham, Bob Ward; Producers: Jacobus Rose, Robert Greenwald; Executive producers: Jon Avnet, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ken Christmas; Director of photography: Denis Lenoir; Production designers: Richard Paris, Linda Del Rosario; Editor: Kimberly Ray; Music: Mader; Casting: Jeanne McCarthy. Cast: Abbie Hoffman: Vincent D'Onofrio; Anita Hoffman: Janeane Garofalo; Johanna Lawrenson: Jeanne Tripplehorn; Gerry Lefcourt: Kevin Pollak; Stew Albert: Donal Logue; Jerry Rubin: Kevin Corrigan; Tom Hayden: Troy Garity. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 112 minutes.
An upcoming Lions Gate release that premiered Saturday at the Santa Barbara (Calif.) International Film Festival, "Steal" employs all of the tricks of biographical films and documentaries in a clumsy ploy to maintain a steady flow of information and entertainment early, then sustain tension during Hoffman's 1970s nightmare as a fallen hero in hiding and suffering from manic depression.
With Vincent D'Onofrio as Abbie and Janeane Garofalo as Anita Hoffman, "Steal" boasts freaky, often-fun performances, and one gets a big second-hand puff of the drug-holiday lives of Hoffman and comrades like Jerry Rubin (Kevin Corrigan). Sex, revolution, marijuana, music: We've been there a few times, but "Steal" also sets out to show what happens when merry pranksters transform into dangerous "enemies of the state."
Based on Abbie and Anita's Hoffman's book "To America With Love: Letters From the Underground" and Marty Jezer's "Abbie Hoffman American Rebel", "Steal" is screenwritten by Bruce Graham and Bob Ward, with cooperation from the late Anita Hoffman and input from several of the people portrayed, including Stew Albert (Donal Logue), Hoffman's lawyer Gerry Lefcourt (Kevin Pollak) and Tom Hayden (played by his real-life son Troy Garity).
Although it contains a few successful dramatic and intimate scenes -- with D'Onofrio and Garofalo well-matched and mostly believable in period garb -- "Steal" plays like an extended music video, with a complex plot incorporating many flashbacks and lots of archival footage and vintage music. Part history lesson, part "Citizen Yippie", the film is too schizoid in its agenda. But it has something to say to budding malcontents, who might be surprised at how brilliant and brave Hoffman was at staging demonstrations and symbolic acts.
When not reminding one of overblown biopics like "Up Close and Personal", prolific television and film director Robert Greenwald's "Steal" works hard to rise above its Oliver Stone Lite approach. By using multiple film stocks and employing voice-overs (mostly random samplings of FBI misdeeds) and even unnecessary graphics, Greenwald tries to push all of the obvious buttons, down to cliched courtroom speeches and scenes of Hoffman's tough times underground.
After a suspicious drug bust and his deliberate disappearance, during which he is forced to sever contact with Anita -- who continues to be harassed by the FBI's secret operations targeting radicals -- Hoffman is lucky to find another stick-by-her-freak type in Johanna Lawrenson (Jeanne Tripplehorn). But now he is estranged from his son America, and under an assumed name living with Lawrenson he suffers from severe mood swings. The film starts with a bearded, distraught Hoffman in 1977 contacting journalist David Glenn Alan Van Sprang), who helps start the process by which the lead (a k a Barry Freed) emerges to face a short prison sentence and overall redemption.
It's one hell of a story, but at nearly two hours -- and with an ultimately unwieldy structure that breezes by such historic events as the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the Chicago Seven trial -- D'Onofrio's wide-ranging performance is not enough, nor Garofalo's solid contributions, to prevent the manipulative filmmaking from undermining the experience to any irritating degree.
STEAL THIS MOVIE!
Lions Gate Releasing
A Greenlight production in association with Ardent Films
Credits: Director: Robert Greenwald; Screenwriters: Bruce Graham, Bob Ward; Producers: Jacobus Rose, Robert Greenwald; Executive producers: Jon Avnet, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ken Christmas; Director of photography: Denis Lenoir; Production designers: Richard Paris, Linda Del Rosario; Editor: Kimberly Ray; Music: Mader; Casting: Jeanne McCarthy. Cast: Abbie Hoffman: Vincent D'Onofrio; Anita Hoffman: Janeane Garofalo; Johanna Lawrenson: Jeanne Tripplehorn; Gerry Lefcourt: Kevin Pollak; Stew Albert: Donal Logue; Jerry Rubin: Kevin Corrigan; Tom Hayden: Troy Garity. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 112 minutes.
At a lean 88 minutes but with a bulky hero, "Firestorm" is a respectable action-adventure about smoke jumpers, forest-fire fighters who parachute into emergency situations with their trusty Pulaskis and save the day. Alas, 20th Century Fox's wide release, its first salvo of 1998, will burn out quickly after an uninspiring opening weekend.
"Fox NFL Sunday" co-host and former Raiders defender Howie Long is the marquee attraction in the directorial debut of cinematographer Dean Semler, an Oscar winner for "Dances With Wolves" and all-pro genre veteran ("Waterworld", "The Last Action Hero").
Filmed splendidly in wide screen by Stephen F. Windon ("The Postman"), "Firestorm" shares with Jan De Bont's "Speed" a calculated recklessness in storytelling and execution that relies heavily on visuals with minimal characterizations. But rookie Chris Soth's screenplay is mostly unbelievable, and the main attraction has the personality and lines of a friendly robot.
Cutting an impressive figure as he leaps from helicopters and off cliffs, Long deserves more. He's mean and in command when there's a backfire to be lit, but there's no back story to ignite his charisma. While there is a damsel in distress -- Suzy Amis as a gutsy ornithologist -- there are no romantic sparks for the superguy as he saves people threatened by falling trees and such.
Opposite the muscle-man treatment of Long's character, there must be a villain, but Semler gives William Forsythe enough room to make his escaping convict a memorable rat. Reliable Scott Glenn is the film's injured quarterback, who rejoins the hero business when a busload of firemen is toasted but not baked.
Blazing computers swing into action for the disaster-movie conclusion in which heroes and villains are caught in a speedy inferno.
Overall, this shameless scorcher employs enough image-distorting heat waves and closeups of matches to explore fully the incendiary milieu. The stunts are sizzling, and the sound and editing are hot stuff, but J. Peter Robinson's routine score fizzles.
FIRESTORM
20th Century Fox
A Loeb/Weisman production
Director: Dean Semler
Producers: Joseph Loeb III, Matthew Weisman,
Thomas M. Hammel
Screenwriter: Chris Soth
Executive producer: Louise Rosner
Director of photography: Stephen F. Windon
Production designers: Richard Paris,
Linda Del Rosario
Editor: Jack Hofstra
Music: J. Peter Robinson
Casting: Allison Gordon Kohler
Cast:
Jesse: Howie Long
Wynt: Scott Glenn
Shaye: William Forsythe
Jennifer: Suzy Amis
Monica: Christianne Hirt
Pete: Garwin Sanford
Cowboy: Sebastian Spence
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Fox NFL Sunday" co-host and former Raiders defender Howie Long is the marquee attraction in the directorial debut of cinematographer Dean Semler, an Oscar winner for "Dances With Wolves" and all-pro genre veteran ("Waterworld", "The Last Action Hero").
Filmed splendidly in wide screen by Stephen F. Windon ("The Postman"), "Firestorm" shares with Jan De Bont's "Speed" a calculated recklessness in storytelling and execution that relies heavily on visuals with minimal characterizations. But rookie Chris Soth's screenplay is mostly unbelievable, and the main attraction has the personality and lines of a friendly robot.
Cutting an impressive figure as he leaps from helicopters and off cliffs, Long deserves more. He's mean and in command when there's a backfire to be lit, but there's no back story to ignite his charisma. While there is a damsel in distress -- Suzy Amis as a gutsy ornithologist -- there are no romantic sparks for the superguy as he saves people threatened by falling trees and such.
Opposite the muscle-man treatment of Long's character, there must be a villain, but Semler gives William Forsythe enough room to make his escaping convict a memorable rat. Reliable Scott Glenn is the film's injured quarterback, who rejoins the hero business when a busload of firemen is toasted but not baked.
Blazing computers swing into action for the disaster-movie conclusion in which heroes and villains are caught in a speedy inferno.
Overall, this shameless scorcher employs enough image-distorting heat waves and closeups of matches to explore fully the incendiary milieu. The stunts are sizzling, and the sound and editing are hot stuff, but J. Peter Robinson's routine score fizzles.
FIRESTORM
20th Century Fox
A Loeb/Weisman production
Director: Dean Semler
Producers: Joseph Loeb III, Matthew Weisman,
Thomas M. Hammel
Screenwriter: Chris Soth
Executive producer: Louise Rosner
Director of photography: Stephen F. Windon
Production designers: Richard Paris,
Linda Del Rosario
Editor: Jack Hofstra
Music: J. Peter Robinson
Casting: Allison Gordon Kohler
Cast:
Jesse: Howie Long
Wynt: Scott Glenn
Shaye: William Forsythe
Jennifer: Suzy Amis
Monica: Christianne Hirt
Pete: Garwin Sanford
Cowboy: Sebastian Spence
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.