by Frank Calvillo
Later this May, I will once again be covering Noir City, the Film Noir Foundation’s annual film festival, which will present a number of unconventional and recently-unearthed entries into the beloved genre. The three-day fest is always a joy to cover because of the different kinds of noir titles usually screened there as well as the eclectic audience who turns up, representing most every kind of film lover under the sun. Some of these people love film noir to the point of no return, even dressing up in 1940s garb to make themselves feel like they are one of the very characters they are watching on the screen. I’m not sure if he’s ever attended Noir City, but after watching The American Side, I’m pretty sure actor and co-writer Greg Stuhr would be one of those people.
The undeniably clever plot of The American Side concerns a gumshoe-for-hire named Charlie Paczynski (Stuhr) who finds himself out of his depth when he becomes unknowingly involved in a deadly plot regarding the creation of a top-secret design based on the plans of the famous scientist Nikola Tesla.
It might sound convoluted and high-concept, but The American Side is surprisingly easy to follow, which works against it as it brings everything lousy about the film right to the forefront. From the pacing, to the obvious plot movements, virtually every aspect of the film falls in between “boring” and “lousy” categories. Nowhere is this more true than in the script department, which bears the kind of dialogue that any film lover worth his weight in celluloid, can anticipate. With moments which sees Charlie smashing up a bar with a baseball bat and then shouting out: “$7 for a cranberry?!,” The American Side almost serves as more of a parody of a really great thriller instead of the throwback offering it was so hoping to be.
Speaking of the idea of throwback, never have I seen a film as relentlessly determined to pay tribute to a past genre than The American Side. Every inch of the film seems to be seeped in elements from film noir, that it becomes almost a game to spot where the next re-worked convention will turn up. Although the film is set in modern times, the main character still communicates via pay phones, which is so laughable, that even a couple of background extras can be seen pointing to him during one such instance. Equally hilarious are the filmmakers’ attempts to turn Buffalo into a noir landscape. Despite some valiant efforts, the ploy doesn’t work, mainly because the city doesn’t lend itself to the kind of story everyone is going for. Meanwhile, it seems there’s always time for a smoke, no matter the time or place, according to the main character, who doesn’t seem to care or notice what’s going on around him.
How did they get such good actors to agree to be in a film like this? That was the thought that kept on flashing through my mind every time the likes of Matthew Broderick, Camilla Belle and Janeane Garofalo entered a scene. All of them turn in expert performances by the way, showing that even a bad script can’t bring a good actor down. As for the film’s lead, Stuhr seems to have seen too many of the kinds of prototype that comprise his role, from Robert Mitchum to Burt Lancaster. Maybe it’s because he’s lived with the material for so long that it’s so ingrained in him, but Stuhr plays out his role to such an extreme in terms of overacting, that he may as well be performing dinner theater.
The worst part about all of this is that the core story behind The American Side is great, full of a bevy of secretive characters, each with a piece of the puzzle to this rather genius idea for a movie. What a plot! What an imaginative thrill ride! Telsa and his legendary work left behind so much by way of theories, that it’s no question a plot such as this would make a highly compelling and involving film. Maybe some day that film will actually get made.
