PIPE DREAM (John Walsh, 2002)

Reviewed: August 6, 2002

Pipe Dream is a member of the rapidly growing subgenre, Contrivance Comedies. This movie is totally implausible, relying too heavily on stupid, unbelievable coincidences to get its plot in motion. That said, once the story settles down and eases up we're left with a nicely understated Romantic Comedy. A moderately enjoyable bargain-bin rent for a rainy night. If you consider your favorite romantic comedy, I'm willing to bet dollars to DVDs the movie is about a guy pursuing a girl (or vice versa) and them eventually consummating their relationship, the last step on that long/arduous path to true love. What's nice about Pipe Dream is the first ten minutes has the romantic comedy guy and the romantic comedy girl already sleeping together. The opening's devoted to a super-abbreviated courtship (as if an entire romantic comedy had been condensed into one scene), plus sex. So Pipe Dream's about the RC girl and the RC guy growing apart, in order to grow back together. This is a fascinating approach, and though it's (when all is said and done) not executed very deftly here, it does provide a small little burst of fresh air.

Pipe Dream's ridiculous plot follows a plumber (Martin Donovan) who is unhappy with peoples' lowly perception of him and his blue collar job, thus he enlists his casting director friend to set up a fake audition for him so he can meet women. The idea being, hey, all actresses are automatically sexually attracted to directors and men in positions of power (don't blame me -- I'm just relaying what the film conveys). But wait! Mr. Plumber needs some pieces of a script for the actresses to audition from! How perfect then that his opening act liaison (Mary-Louise Parker) is a wannabe screenwriter who has just completed a script! So Mr. Plumber steals Mary Louise's script from her apartment! Meanwhile buzz builds throughout Gotham-as-Hollywood around this nonexistent project! So much buzz in fact that out of the clear blue sky a filthy rich computer nerd looking for tax money to invest/write-off decides to self-finance the film! The rest of Pipe Dream follows the making of this movie-within-a-movie by now-director Donovan (who is nothing more than surrogate director Mary-Louise's puppet; she helms the film from a distance by telling Donovan what to say and do at all times via their one-way walkie-talkies).

I was disappointed with Donovan's character. What the first twenty-odd minutes of the film led me to believe was he'd be the standard intelligent/kind romantic comedy lead. Alas no, he's a dope and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the audience quickly stops feeling pity for him re: people's aforementioned "plumber" perception (since he proves he in fact deserves such a poor characterization). While bucking the typical romantic comedy trend and trying to emulate the genius of a Groundhog Day or the wonderful, recent About a Boy -- which are both, like Pipe Dream, about manipulative liars who abuse their power to try and sleep with girls -- Pipe Dream ultimately fails because its character is neither likable in that charmingly devious way that Bill Murray and Hugh Grant are so expert at portraying, nor bright (like Murray and Grant's characters also are). Donovan's a very solid actor who does decent work here, but with his quiet voice and gentle mannerisms he's not fit for an outgoing, gleefully devious womanizer.

Luckily my qualms re: Donovan's character are made up for by Mary-Louise Parker and her character. I was never a huge Louise Parker fan until now; the Tony-awarding winning actress illuminates Pipe Dream with the soft glow of a candlelit dinner. Parker projects a warmth and a spark and a vibrancy and a soul that provides the netting for all of Pipe Dream's other strengths. I've always thought that if a guy in the audience falls in love with the romantic comedy woman (and vice-gender-versa), most other flaws can quickly be overlooked.

Unfortunately, Pipe Dream does not circumvent the requisite love triangle angle. Rebecca Gayheart plays the third wheel, a ditsy, bad actress who Donovan the director casts to sleep with, then does sleep with, then threatens to fire. I hate Rebecca Gayheart the actress, and I despised her idiotic character. At least she's a bad actress playing a bad actress, so it's kinda sensible casting.

Okay, enough text devotion to Pipe Dream's weaknesses. Let's move onto the positives, shall we?

(A) Pipe Dream's comedy is not broad or obvious. There are some laugh-out-loud lines in the context of a plumber placed inside the entirely alien world of filmmaking.

(B) Pipe Dream has the skill to draw a handful of characters, not just its three leads. A lot of the film-within-a-film crew members -- particularly the funny craft services guy -- feel realized. Even an agent's assistant plays alive.

(C) It's not boring. The plot moves swiftly and the 95 min runtime quickly evaporates into the ether (that's also a negative though; I assume I'll have forgotten I ever saw Pipe Dream by tomorrow). The plot's contrived, but at least the plotting is generous. While plot has never been that important to me, I'm getting progressively sicker of films like the recent Lovely and Amazing, which think they can skirt by on just showing a day in the life of a couple of lame characters.

(D) The low-key ending works well.

(E) For a low-buget indie, Pipe Dream looks great (and utilizes a lot of expensive, lush NYC locations). There's a gorgeous shot where Parker's wearing a fur coat, and because of the way the sun hits her back, the errant fur strands outlining the coat glow. She looks like an angel.

I try and be grateful for the small filmic gifts of life. An even passable romantic comedy is so rare these days that when a mildly entertaining one like Pipe Dream comes along, I'm agreeable to devoting an hour and a half of my time to its presence. This is only co-writer/director John Walsh's second film (after his little-seen debut Ed's Next Move) and though he doesn't make "edgy" movies, a respectable romantic comedy crafter is an increasingly appreciable commodity.

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