Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 70

D2 Austin American-Statesman Friday, February 6, 1987 Insanity may be best defense for 'From the Hip' -T Roviow s2.00 OFF mS 15. or mot purctos JOHNNY'S SEAFOOD Serving Fine Fresh Seafood 7 dart week 9308 N. Lamar a tics of Al Pacino and company in And Justice for All look like documentary filmmaking. Clark invests all the momentum for one hot -dog scene near the end, and it is patently absurd. Benoit, who is supposed to be an intellectual giant, falls into a lamely devised trap rigged by the defense council and who all but a child would see coming a mile away.

Case dismissed. Clark and co-screenwriter Kelley did write a couple of good scenes between Nelson and Perkins, and every now and then they get off a comic zinger. Only trouble is, they always have several members of the cast laughing at the joke. If that's not narcissism, consider the film's last line: "I'm a pretty great guy, aren't From the Hip, rated PG, at the Barton Creek Cinema, Highland Mall, AMC Riverside. milll III IIMIIllllll Jill II I I.

MIU, I I I I -Ml. )i $2.00 of! in dinner entre' with this coupon, valid until January 31, 1987 By Patrick Taggart Amancan-SutMman Staff From the Hip is sort of like a bratpack version of And Justice for All, which is to say the film is narcissistic trash as opposed to just plain trash. That's really no surprise given the presence of director and co-writer Bob Clark, whose last film, Turk 182, was a similar piece of pseudo-populist claptrap. Clark seems dedicated to the notion that no situation is too hokey, no joke too gross to fob off on an undis-criminating public. From the Hip rages and roars out of control from start to finish, and not even the presence of Judd Nelson, who does a great job of being a raging, roaring and ridiculous character, can save it.

The story by David E. Kelley places Nelson in the role of rookie lawyer Robin Weathers, a cocky, self-adoring type who wants to rise quickly in the large Boston law firm that employs him. To this end he engages in a variety of unscrupulous activities, including stealing notes from a colleague and (get this) staging testimony at a trial with the cooperation of a prosecutor. Weathers' courtroom tactics infuriate judges and colleagues but win over the audience gathered at the trial, who cheer and applaud like dopey escapees from a Frank Capra film. Weathers' bosses don't know what to do with him, so they decide to finish him off by assigning him the defense of the slick, haughty Traditional East Coast Seafood flown directly from Boston's harbor to our own maritime environment Judd Nelson, left, and John Hurt can't save From the Hip from descending into silly claptrap.

LIVE Maine Lobster from our own tank ALL VOL' CAS tAT In MATE? PLATTER wMall inffar and frtxli Fnei mni Slat into a moral tailspin. He has taken an oath to defend his client, but is it right to argue the case of someone he believes is guilty? He unloads on his beautiful girlfriend, Jo Ann (Elizabeth Perkins), who tells him, "I'm not your priest or your mother; I'm your lover." Fine. The trial that eventually arises out of all this nonsense is so incredible that it makes the ridiculous an- Douglas Benoit (John Hurt), a businessman who is probably guilty of murdering a 22-year-old woman. The modus operandi a claw hammer to the skull. This puts the loudmouth lawyer only Salmtm.

Sonrdfilk Sole in Hniquc govrtnel uvc iripkcombinilion for only $1695 LuikIkwi Spcciik from S6 IS Dinner Speculs from $10 95 10 $14 95 Afternoon ind Lite Nif hi Menu 95 DINNER LIGHT1ME Sun Thu inul 1 Ipm Fn -Sat. Fn-Sal until midnitc 1 2pm-2am LI NTH Mon-Fri II am-5pm RECYCLE THIS PAPER 479-6753 Supported by: Austin reservations accepted Upbeat ending comes too late for 'Summer' AMEXMCV1SADINERSCHECK 616 EAST 6TH STREET NEAR IH-35 512-474-5441 Review 5,1.00 OFF anv size oizzano7 to be open but isn't, and is prone to fits of unprovoked weeping. Traveling first to Cherbourg, then to Paris and finally to Biarritz (once again tough life) Delphine (Marie Riviere) grows more unhappy until, in the movie's final 20 minutes, she meets a man who seems somewhat less predatory than usual and she opens up. We then learn what's eating at her and for once her character makes sense. The movie ends ambiguously but satisfyingly.

Up until then, though, the movie is a bland exercise in semi-improvi- sational technique and forced drollery. Rohmer's camera lingers forever on boring, inconsequential conversations about everything from buying meat in the supermarket to the writings of Jules Verne. In one sequence, we observe Delphine and a friend sitting at an outdoor cafe, discussing something utterly trivial, while the noise from traffic becomes so loud that it drowns out the conversation. It seems likely in this case that the sound man knew something the director didn't Summer, rated for nudity, at the Village. By Patrick Taggart American-Statesman Staff After an hour of Eric Rohmer's Summer, the temptation is to write it off as one of the most tedious films made, a movie that comes close to trivializing itself, frame by frame, into oblivion.

That writer-director Rohmer avoids this disaster by injecting geniune passion and character in the last half-hour of the film comes as small comfort because the damage is irreversible. What we're left with is a terrible movie with a decent ending, or a good ending from a movie he mistakenly patched onto this botched one. In any case, the results are terrible. Delphine, the central character, is first seen sulking in a corner, distraught over the news that a good friend won't join her for a five-week vacation. Since Delphine cites her occupation as secretary, we might reasonably woader why she would be distraught, given such generous vacation time.

But eventually we learn that Del-phine's depression is the kind that five weeks on the beach won't cure. Forever unhappy in love and unable to find a man who interests her, she has become more withdrawn and less trusting. She claims Higniana Man Nortncross Mail 4is congreti 458-2167 459-6491 480-8440 Tj for our new fresh pizza crust at Whole Foods and Fresh Plus markets I Offer expire February 28, 1987 r. FIRST ONE SERVING Chinese Japanese Dinner BUFFET hana A 4 1 all you can eatl 5 nm-9 nm So. OS 5 pm $7.95 wwBai I 1 1 IVIW 6929 AIRPORT BLVD.

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