Fram Page 6 >=

cate his feelings. The senti-
ment is that men and women
really are from two different
planets emotionally.

Harold is supposed to
have developed human emo-
tions by the film’s end, but
Shaz:dling remains the
automaton he was at the
beginning of the picture. He
seems to have lost enthusiasm
for his character long before
the credits roll.

Bening, Kinnear,
Fiorentino and John
Goodman — as the agent
investigating Harold — give
good performances in limited
roles. But the script seems
slap-handedly written. And
while the sex gags might
appeal to teens, the film’s
“R” rating relies on more
mature tastes.

@ Drowning Mona kx
1/2 (out of 5) :
Directed by Nick Gomez.
Starring Danny DeVito,
Bette Midler, Casey Affleck, Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve
Campbell.

THE town of Verplanck, New York, was used as a test market for
Yugos — some might say the definition of hell itself.

But when the town’s resident she-devil, Mona Dearly, turns
up dead, no one is terribly upset and everyone is a suspect.

Mona (Bette Midler, resurrecting her bitchy Ruthless People
role) seems to have abused everyone in this scenic but seedy lit-
tle town, where it seems everyone is having a bad hair day.

So when her Yugo swab-dives into the Hudson, there are
giggles and cheers all around.

After all, Mona was known to go after her dim-witted hus-
band Phil (William Fichtner) with a frying pan. No wonder he
sought solace in a dirty game of Wheel of Fortune with Rona

‘(Jamie Lee Curtis), bitter waitress at the town diner.

Jeff Dearly (Marcus Thomas), Mona’s sloth-like, beer-gu2-
zling son, also wanted to kill his mother. In addition to years of
verbal abuse, Mona might have been the reasor: Jeff fost his
hand. (In one of the funnier sequences of the film, all the theo-
Hes ¢ about how Jeff fost his hand involve him reaching for a

cei.)

... + Soft-spoken Bobby (Casey Affieck) seems to have the greatest
motive for killing Mona. He has taken abuse from the whole
Dearly family for years. Mona wouldn’t let him fire Jeff, his part-
ner ina landscaping business that is going down the tubes,

an

Core ranks
the raddest

From Page 2

* Carin (Cone) Vanderbush was
the first woman on SI’s cover
‘twice. There’s also a nifty arti-
cle about stereoscopic photog-
raphy and a feature on surfer
Laird Hamilton and his wife, -
supermodel/volleyball player
‘Gabrielle Reece. (For trivia
buffs, she’s the woman who
wore the Vancouver Grizzlies’ ..
- “wniform when it was unveiled
"five years ago.).
Sorry ladies, but there
‘aren’t any beefcake photos in
the latest Sports Izstrated for

@ The second edition of Core
Sports riagazine ranks the 100
“raddest athletes” in surfing,
wakeboarding, snowboarding,
skiing, mountain biking and

. Women, Tennis star Anna
Kournikova —.Pavel Bure’s
fiance — graces the

*. March/April cover. But you

“can nominate your favourite

“male athlete for that maga-
* gine’s upcoming, swimsuit edi-
tion at <cnnsi.com/sifor-

skateboarding. Ross Rebagliati
didn’t make the list, but his
rival Mark Fawcett did. Ex-
North Vancowverite Alison
Sydor ranks fourth on the
mountain bikers’ list
a — Bob Mackin

ace sults comedy

Photo Alliance Atlantis

DANNY Vito (foreground) stars as Chief Rash in the new comedy Drowning Mona.

thanks in part to Jeff mowing over a client’s dog.

Bobby was trying to save money for his wedding to Ellen
(Neve Campbell), sweet but self-absorbed, who also happens to
be the police chiefs daughter.

Trying to sort it all out is Chief Rash (Danny DeVito}, who
has a penchant for broadway trivia and only wants to sec his
daughter happy.

There are some memorable supporting characters too.
Saturday Night Live’s Will Farrell plays Cubby, the town's per-
verted funeral director, whose ghoulish pallor and creepy
demeanour suggest too many formaldehyde baths. Lucinda
(Kathleen Wilhoite) owns the town garage and seems to be the
only Verplanckian other than Chief Rash with any sense.

Best known for his indie film New Jersey Drive and numerous
TV episodes, this is Nick Gomez’s first stab at big-budget come-
dy. Written by Peter Steinfeld, the characters have the same dim
small-town patina as those distant cousins in Raising Arizona,
though the writing here isn’t quite as consistent as the Coen
brothers’ comedic debut.

Drowning Mona has definite gaps between gags; but it does-
n't feel too off-kilter, given the lazy pace of Verplanck itself and
the reluctance to raise a ruckus about a little ching like homicide.

So during Oscar month, when people are taking film far too
scriously, go see Drowning Mona, a laugh-out-loud reminder
that there are other movies out there.

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- Canadian dollar

Friday, March 3, 2000 — Morth Shore News - 33

Improvisation was
Jones training ground

From Page 2t

Hockey League franchises are struggling to survive with
high taxes and the low-Canadian dollar. It’s sec in Hockey, a
small Canadian town where the hockey-loving folk changed
the town’s name in 1939 “because nobody wanted to live in
a town called Hitler,” Jones says. Sixty years later, Hockey is
threatened with the loss of its team, the generic Plavers.
They're bound for a gleaming new rink in Tallahatchie,
Mississippi — unless the fans return in droves, the politi-
cians open the public purse and the team wins the league
championship.

Sound familiar?

Ex-goalie and sports bar proprictor Rusty Fenwick
(played by Rod Crawford) rallies citizens to convince
Margie (Colleen Wheeler), the daughter of the Players’ late
owner, to keep the team in Hockey, Fenwick lobbies the
mayor to help fund a new rink. Some town councillors sug-
gest waiving property taxes. Then along comes Zynew
Gretaky (Todd Talbot), a wholesome farm boy and record-
breaking bantam piayer who returns to the game after a
decade’s absence to save the Players.

Jones met Lafferty and Side through the Vancouver
TheatreSports League and decided a year ago to collabo-
rate. It was Lafferty’s idea to both explore Canadians’
attachment to the game and put bums in the seats of the
Arts Club’s Granville Island main stage. She thought a work
about the national obsession would solve the age-old dilem-
ma of attracting mates in their 20s to the the Arts Club,
which runs on an annual budget fess than Mark Messier’s
$6-million contract and receives only 10% of its funding
from government.

Acting wasn’t Jones’ original calling. He was art director
for the Gazette newspaper in Burlington, Ont. and then
worked for an advertising company in Hamilton before tak-
ing a Second City comedy workshop in Toronto. He toured
with Second City across Ca2ada and moved to Vancouver
for Expo 86 when he got a six-month gig with Second
City’s troupe at the Flying Club, now Yuk Yuk’s. He helped
make fairgoers laugh with Ryan Stiles, a theatresports veter-
an who now co-stars on the Drew Carey Show and Whose
Line Is It Anyway?

“(TheatreSports is) an amazing training ground. You
don’t realize it at the time, but when you’re improvising, ~
you’re writing on your feet.-1 must’ve done a million scenes
and I've forgotten pretty much ail of them.”

He doesn’t play TheatreSports as much anymore, opting
to act in TV and film productions and take care of his fami-
ly. Ironically, he has no shortage of work from locally pro-
duced American productions. Unlike pro hockey, the low

Felps the film industry thrive. He has a
recurring role in Stargate-SG1, a show featuring hockey fan
Richard Dean Anderson. .

B A Town Called Hockey cuns through March 25. Jones
promises che players wiil give 110% for the full play. Tickers
are selling in Canadian dollars and the players — all good
Canadian kids, doing it for the love of the play — are get-
ting paid in the same currency. Call 687-1644 or go to
<www.artsciub.com> for showtimes and tickets. (It’s not
suitable for those under 14 because of focker room lingo,
including a certain word that rhymes with puck.)

Theatre critic Martin Millerchip reviews next week.

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