Delayed Reaction: Roger Dodger

The Pitch: Jesse Eisenberg, years before The Social Network or even The Squid and the Whale.

A fast-talking Lothario shows his nephew around New York City in search of sex.

This is another movie I know about because of Filmspotting that wasn't served well by the build up. The Filmspotting guys in the early days of the podcast praised this movie constantly. To keep up with my slow listen-through from episode 1, I really needed to check this movie out.

On the surface, this looks like a movie I'd like. I'm a fan of conversation movies like the Before Series or Top Five: movies that are almost entirely a couple people talking, normally over a single night. Roger (Campbell Scott) has some interesting things to say. In my notes, I called him "the guy at the party who is fascinating for the first hour and insufferable for the rest of it". I appreciate that the goal of that character is to make a guy say repugnant things in a way that's still likable. He's like listening to a Bill Burr comedy set. Jesse Eisenberg is a great scene partner for Scott, because Eisenberg always looks like his figuring something out; like he's making a decision before he ever decides to say something. The movie is in top form when Jennifer Beals and Elizabeth Berkley show up. The scenes with them perfectly encapsulate why Roger is able to bed so many women and why he's pathetic and alone.

I didn't care for the movie though. Roger is too detestable for my taste. While the movie doesn't exactly champion Roger, it gives him more of a pass for his behavior than something  made today would. His salvation comes too late and too completely. When he's giving the boys advice at the end of the movie, I was grimacing, because I kept expecting it to turn badly. I don't think that's how I was supposed to see it. And the very final moment I didn't see as a victorious moment.

I appreciated the direction more than I liked it. In theory, I like that Dylan Kidd never lets the audience forget how busy the streets are or how crowded the bars are, but it was distracting. I would've appreciated if the direction was a little more invisible in this and if he let the performances and screenplay stay the focus of the movie.

Also, I despised the score. Despised it. It was noisy and bad. I don't have the vocabulary to describe music, so I'll just stick with "it hurt my ears".

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend