Sixteen years ago I played Carol Newquist in a high school production of Jules Feiffer’s play “Little Murders.” Frankly, it was above our station. I think that’s why I never saw this movie, ’cause I was always a little embarrassed of that production. Kinda silly — we were in high school! This film version is good, very good, but there’s something kinda off. The satirical elements are uneven. You have monstrously funny soliloquies from Lou Jacobi, Donald Sutherland, Vincent Gardenia (boy, he’s a lot better than I was at age 16!) and Arkin himself. And then you have some very arty photography from Gordon Willis and light avant-garde touches in pacing and editing. When the commentary track told me that producer Elliot Gould (he’s also great as the lead) originally was in talks with Jean-Luc Godard to direct it kinda made more sense. My guess is that the film was a tug of war in two directions: Producer Gould hoping to ape Godard and Arkin doing shtick. Maybe you’ll like the results. Gould and Feiffer on the commentary track seem pretty pleased. I find it interesting, but I can’t say I subscribe to this particular publication.
