Now on DVD (and still kicking around in some indie theaters):

Broken English

I've been a big Parker Posey fan ever since she unleashed her giddy and bitchy star power in mid-1990s films like Party Girl, Waiting for Guffman and The House of Yes. In 2002 I even got to interview her in conjunction with the release of her Sundance Film Festival hit Personal Velocity. True, she's been in some pretty bad films over the past few years (Adam & Steve, Superman Returns and The Oh in Ohio, to name a few). But until tonight I've always stuck with her till the final credits rolled.

Broken English is the debut effort from writer director Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of pioneering indie director John Cassavetes and powerhouse actress Gena Rowlands. In a word, it sucks. It's a "romantic" "comedy" so riddled with cliches and bad craftsmanship that I couldn't stand to watch it past the thirty minute mark. At first I thought the whole enterprise would be buoyed by the good cast even if the story lacked spark. Apart from Ms. Posey, the ensemble includes Gena Rowlands, Justin Theroux, Peter Bogdanovich and Drea de Matteo from The Sopranos. No such luck. Ms. Cassavetes's lack of experience (and talent) is evident in a brain-numbing stream of boring and graceless scenes. Obviously she's trying to emulate the naturalistic techniques of her father, but couldn't her production team have sprung for an extra light bulb or two for the dim rooms where most of the scenes take place?

Next up for Parker? Hopefully she'll hit her stride again in 2008 with The Eye - a remake of a Hong Kong horror movie - and Spring Breakdown, a comedy in which she'll share the screen with Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Jane Lynch and other funny ladies.