2 Days in the Valley USA, R, 104 m, 1996
In John Herzfeld's 2
Days in the Valley, Charlize Theron floods the role of a blonde Norwegian
vamp named Helga with an ungoverned ardor that makes the screen smolder. When
she first appears, you may find yourself doing a double take; her type of
centerfold comeliness is seldom seen in the movies these days, and she gives 2
Days a mighty jolt every time she slinks into the frame. Helga is one of a dozen
or so characters that make up Herzfeld's labyrinthine crime drama set in the San
Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Over the course of two days, seemingly
divergent tales of assorted oddballs intersect in a fashion that
recalls the works of Altman and Tarantino. It's a proficient piece of
moviemaking, certainly never boring, but the ideas feel stale and there's no
real zest to the images. Herzfeld's script toils assiduously to be hip, but it
feels too self-conscious, and the material is thin. He's given Helga the ideal
playmate, though: the peerlessly sleazy James Spader plays her fiancé, Lee, a
hit man who likes to yank out a stopwatch and give his prey one minute to clear
their consciences. He and his accomplice, Dosmo (Danny Aiello), creep into the
bedroom of an Olympic skier (Teri Hatcher) and execute her ex-hubby (Peter
Norton). Lee attempts to tie up loose ends by blowing up Dosmo (whom Lee
contemptuously refers to as "Dumbo") with a car bomb, but Dosmo escapes and seeks
refuge in the tacky estate of a cantankerous art dealer named Hopper (Greg
Crutwell). Suffering from a recent bout with kidney stones, Hopper is being
nursed back to health by his mousy secretary (Glenne Headly). The poor thing is
berated and jeered at mercilessly by her boss, much to the chagrin of the smitten Dosmo. Meanwhile (and there are many of those in this movie), two
vice cops, Wes (Eric Stoltz) and Alvin (Jeff Daniels), accidentally stumble upon
the murder scene on their way back from staking out a massage parlor. Wes leaps
at the opportunity to be working on a real case (he's fed up with busting
hand-job maidens), but the by-the-book Alvin insists on turning it over to the
homicide detectives, and he tells off Wes for his stupidity in compromising the
integrity of the crime sight by moving a key piece of evidence. Alvin is
suffering through a messy divorce (he lost custody of his son), and his
wandering demeanor is beginning to kindle distress from the suits upstairs. With
his wooly brush and long, unkempt do, Daniels manages to look a lot like
Jesus, but he's conversely feral, and the contentious rapport he establishes
with Stoltz is invariably diverting without falling into the pitfalls of
functionality. I don't think Daniels has ever been as effective as he is here,
but after a while, the director can't seem to find much use for him, and his
story is aborted before it really gets started. Elsewhere in town, washed-up filmmaker Teddy Peppers (played by director Paul Mazursky to help give the part some resonance) is contemplating suicide, but he's mindful of finding a home for his pooch before doing himself in. At a cemetery, he hooks up with a nurse named Audrey (Marsha Mason), who agrees to take the dog and find it a new owner. Figuring she'll give the dog to her brother, she takes Teddy on a ride to the Valley to meet him. As it turns out, Audrey's brother is Greg, whom you may recall is being held at gunpoint by the ill-tempered Dosmo, and, as fate would have it, Dosmo has a paralyzing fear of canines. (This gag may have looked good on paper, but the spasms of apprehension Dosmo undergoes every time a doggie rears his shaggy head grows a bit monotonous.) As Dosmo, Aiello throws everything he's got into the role, and this is exactly why it's so dreadful. Mind, Aiello can stand with some of the screen's finer character actors, especially when he exhibits some restraint (as in Once Around), but often his choleric disposition and over-the-top outbursts cast a pall on some otherwise competently mounted scenes. And it seems like every time I see the guy, he's bellowing at the top of his lungs and waving some sort of deadly weapon around the set. Let's see, he swung a baseball bat at his pizzeria's disorderly patrons in Do the Right Thing, then shook a crutch at the customarily sinister orderlies in Jacob's Ladder, and finally batted a pool cue at his fellow business investors in Mistress. (This authenticates that Aiello is a rather insufficient and maddeningly redundant actor.) In 2 Days, he's got a big gun to wave around, and, unfortunately, there's also innumerable occasions for him to give his hefty tubes a workout. If only the director had followed suit and commanded Aiello to pipe down. February 25, 1997 © Copyright 2007 by Edward Larsen Terkelsen. All rights reserved.
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