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MY FIRST MISTER Send This Review to a Friend
It is good to see superb actress Chrsistine Lahti branch out into directing a feature, and her "My First Mister" shows that she has a sensitive feeling for character and a warm heart to go with it. She also has an eye for casting, judging by her combination of Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski.
Although Jill Franklyn's script set mainly in Los Angeles has an air of contrivance with respect to working out plot, the character confrontations command attention, as does the acting. Sobieski bristles as angry, surly, self-loathing 17-year-old high school grad Jennifer, who is a difficult case for anyone. Carol Kane as her mother Sylvia is oblivious to the depth of her daughter's suffering. Jennifer is mad at the world, and she has adopted every defiant attitude she can, whether piercing her body or dressing as if to challenge everyone.
The change in her life begins when she meets Albert Brooks as the much older Randall, a men's clothing store operator in a shopping mall. He finds Jennifer obnoxious, but there is something about her that intrigues him, and he gives her a job, although she has trouble taking orders from anybody and can screw up easily. But Randall is in need, and so is she; the path toward friendly closeness is set. As Jennifer becomes aware that there is a secret aspect to Randall's life, she sets out to resolve it with a trip to Arizona, where she discovers Randy (Desmond Harrington), a young man who is also filled with anger.
The film becomes syrupy as the soap opera plot unfolds. Mary Kay Place has a good role as Randall's devoted woman friend. Brooks is excellent and laid back as a wise, somewhat acerbic father figure who knows something about life. Jennifer unlocks a door for him, and he helps rescue her from herself. You may not swallow all of it, but there is enough humor and pathos entwined to make "My First Mister" an interesting first feature. A Paramount Classics release.
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