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SIMPATICO Send This Review to a Friend
Strong movie acting and the volatile relationships stemming from the Sam Shepard play on which the film "Simpatico" is based strike screen sparks. The adaptation was co-written by Matthew Warchus and David Nicholls, with Warchus, who has earned a reputation as a gifted stage director in England, taking on the film's directorial duties.
The expanded opportunities of film prove to be both a plus and a minus. There is certainly an advantage in giving us close-up work by such charismatic stars as Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges, Sharon Stone, Albert Finney, and as we are also finding by virtue of her other work of late, Catherine Keener ("Being John Malkovich"). The plot, too, takes on intriguing film noir overtones, haunted by a racing scam that took place years before the story opens and left an indelible mark on several lives.
Nolte as Vinnie is a mess but still harbors the love he once had for Rosie when they and his pal Carter pulled off their scam and put a racing official who cottoned on to it into a compromising position, thereby assuring his silence. Now Carter, played by Bridges, is a huge financial success with his thoroughbred breeding business in Kentucky and is married to Rosie, played by Stone. Finney as Simms, the corrupted official, has gotten on with his life. Nolte has become involved with Cecilia, an unassuming, honest young woman, portrayed in a lovely performance by Keener. After the conniving Vinnie desperately pleads with Carter to come to Los Angeles to help with a crisis that really doesn't exist, complex, traumatic events are set in motion.
The downside in writer-director Warchus's work is the decision to keep interrupting the story by materializing the past, something easier to do on screen than on stage, with a view to filling us in on the details of the scam and the relationships. Since the events happened so long ago, there's no way the stars can play themselves. But Shawn Hatosy as young Vinnie, Kimberly Williams as young Rosie and Liam Waite as young Carter not only don't pass sufficiently in the resemblance department but fail to suggest the acting prowess of the stars. Thus the flashbacks interrupt the intensity. Compelling us to imagine the past might have had more impact, but wouldn't have fleshed out the play as much.
Nonetheless, the story itself is gripping, involving and heightened by the opportunity to see these pros at work. "Simpatico," which takes its name from the horse Carter is about to sell, is sufficiently different to take us on a strange journey of flaming emotions and efforts to expunge past mistakes and start afresh. Not every plot ploy is believable, but there are some ingredients that can overshadow credibility long enough for us to enjoy what we see. A Fine Line Features release.
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