''Bum Rap'' is just a bummer. It's an unconvincing, hackneyed tale about a New York cabbie/struggling actor who comes down with the planet's rarest and most punctual terminal disease -- a doctor gives him precisely 72 hours to live, give or take 36 minutes. The film's theatrical prognosis is even grimmer than its protagonist's.
Written, directed and produced in 1988 by first-time filmmaker Daniel Irom, ''Bum Rap'' stars Craig Wasson (''Body Double'') as Paul Colson, a youngish New Yorker with standard-issue neuroses -- no girlfriend, a nowhere career, parents who misunderstand him.
In the first part of the film, shot in black and white, Paul's chilly friend Phyllis (a pre-Eastwood Frances Fisher) tells him she's not interested in anything beyond a platonic relationship. But that's the least of his worries. He then is told of his malady, gets drunk, rages against God and the elements and summarily passes out.
''Wizard of Oz''-like, the film turns to color as Paul tries to live the last days of his life to their fullest, or, at least, Irom's idea of life to its fullest. He bonds with drunken poker buddies, resolves things as much as possible with his parents and makes time with a gold-hearted hooker (Blanche Baker), who by the end of the date goes, in cabbie parlance, off the meter.
And, of course, he indulges in scads of ''What's-it-all-about'' sturm und drang. The monologues Wasson hamfistedly delivers are cringingly embarrassing, callowly portentous and gratingly self-righteous. When Paul lifts a beer bottle and toasts, ''To things that are real, '' as if he's the first guy who's noticed an unseemly veneer covering the bulk of society, his death can't come soon enough.
Technical credits and the rest of the cast -- save, of all people, Grandpa Munster himself, Al Lewis, who yowls through his small role as a psychotic neighbor from Paul's childhood -- are serviceable. But that's small consolation for a movie whose message seems to be, ''It's OK to die as long as you get to sleep with a gorgeous lollapalooza beforehand.
''BUM RAP
Millenium Productions Inc.
Screenwriter-director-producer Daniel Irom
Director of photography Kevin Lombard
Executive producers Jon Kilik, Mindy Schneider, Eric Seidman
Editor Michael Berenbaum
Music Robert Kessler, Ethan Neuberg
Casting Robin Monroe
Color
Cast:
Paul Colson Craig Wasson
Lisa DuSoir Blanche Baker
Mr. Wolfstadt Al Lewis
Drunk Woman Anita Gillette
Phyllis Frances Fisher
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Written, directed and produced in 1988 by first-time filmmaker Daniel Irom, ''Bum Rap'' stars Craig Wasson (''Body Double'') as Paul Colson, a youngish New Yorker with standard-issue neuroses -- no girlfriend, a nowhere career, parents who misunderstand him.
In the first part of the film, shot in black and white, Paul's chilly friend Phyllis (a pre-Eastwood Frances Fisher) tells him she's not interested in anything beyond a platonic relationship. But that's the least of his worries. He then is told of his malady, gets drunk, rages against God and the elements and summarily passes out.
''Wizard of Oz''-like, the film turns to color as Paul tries to live the last days of his life to their fullest, or, at least, Irom's idea of life to its fullest. He bonds with drunken poker buddies, resolves things as much as possible with his parents and makes time with a gold-hearted hooker (Blanche Baker), who by the end of the date goes, in cabbie parlance, off the meter.
And, of course, he indulges in scads of ''What's-it-all-about'' sturm und drang. The monologues Wasson hamfistedly delivers are cringingly embarrassing, callowly portentous and gratingly self-righteous. When Paul lifts a beer bottle and toasts, ''To things that are real, '' as if he's the first guy who's noticed an unseemly veneer covering the bulk of society, his death can't come soon enough.
Technical credits and the rest of the cast -- save, of all people, Grandpa Munster himself, Al Lewis, who yowls through his small role as a psychotic neighbor from Paul's childhood -- are serviceable. But that's small consolation for a movie whose message seems to be, ''It's OK to die as long as you get to sleep with a gorgeous lollapalooza beforehand.
''BUM RAP
Millenium Productions Inc.
Screenwriter-director-producer Daniel Irom
Director of photography Kevin Lombard
Executive producers Jon Kilik, Mindy Schneider, Eric Seidman
Editor Michael Berenbaum
Music Robert Kessler, Ethan Neuberg
Casting Robin Monroe
Color
Cast:
Paul Colson Craig Wasson
Lisa DuSoir Blanche Baker
Mr. Wolfstadt Al Lewis
Drunk Woman Anita Gillette
Phyllis Frances Fisher
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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