Film deserves death penalty
Despite advertising to the contrary, The Life of David Gale is little more than a homogenized Hollywood thriller. Blame it on the director, blame it on the script or blame it on the studio – either way, even Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey couldn’t save this movie from celluloid hell.
Director Alan Parker shows no imagination in filming the movie. Previously behind the camera on that “winner-of-a-musical” Evita, Parker somehow manages to suck the life out of what should be a compelling story about a death penalty abolitionist sent to death row.
His only evident attempts at artistic expression are jump-shot montages of words like “guilt” and “murderer” that serve as flashback warnings.
Face it, there isn’t an original editing choice in this movie.
As for the plot, first-time writer Charles Randolph obviously tried really, really hard to write a decent script. Unfortunately for him, he failed.
Spacey plays David Gale, a borderline-alcoholic philosophy professor at the University of Austin (yes, it was filmed at the University of Texas in Austin) whose wife is having an affair in Spain.
But wouldn’t you know it, things get worse when a fellow activist, played by Laura Linney, is murdered and Gale is convicted of the crime.
Enter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), a magazine journalist sent to interview Gale during the week leading up to his execution. With true Titanic flair, Winslet works herself into a melodramatic frenzy trying to chase down the real murderer as Gale’s clock slowly runs out.
Needless to say, the audience has the outcome worked out long before the plot twists quit turning. Spacey plays the same emotionless character he’s always played, although he lets a little humanity peek through during flashbacks to his life in Austin, pre-incarceration.
But Winslet steals the show with her hysterical fits of crying. Her overwrought performance would barely pass muster on your average movie of the week. In David Gale, she’s laughable.
Laura Linney manages to maintain some level of dignity playing the murdered activist, but her understated performance isn’t enough to save the movie.
It appears as though the makers of David Gale wanted to produce a movie that questioned the validity of the death penalty. Instead, they produced a movie that leaves the audience begging for euthanasia.
