Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:45:30 | 7.27 Gb
Audio: English AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps or AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps; French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, Spanish
Genre: Drama, Comedy
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:45:30 | 7.27 Gb
Audio: English AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps or AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps; French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, Spanish
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Writer/director Dylan Kidd got a chance to make his script for Roger Dodger into a feature film when he boldly approached Campbell Scott in a café in Greenwich Village and made his pitch. Eventually, Scott would agree to executive produce and star in the film, and was responsible for bringing Jennifer Beals and Isabella Rossellini onboard. Scott stars as the eponymous Roger, a successful New York ad man and self-proclaimed master of reading and manipulating women. The film begins with Roger out for drinks with his co-workers and demonstrating his verbal gifts. "Words are my stock in trade," he explains as he expounds. But he soon learns that his boss, Joyce (Rossellini), wants to end their clandestine sexual relationship. Roger gets another shock when his teenaged nephew, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg of TV's Get Real), shows up unannounced the next day at his job. Nick explains that he's in town for an interview at Columbia and soon admits that he wants Roger to take him out and give him a crash course on women. Soon the pair is out carousing, but when they run into the lovely Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and her friend, Sophie (Jennifer Beals), Roger discovers that despite Nick's sexual desperation, the teen is temperamentally unsuited to Roger's transparent womanizing mode of operation. In short, Nick is a sweet, open, and sensitive boy, while Roger proves himself to be a misogynist pig. Their differences grow even starker when Roger decides to crash a party Joyce is throwing that night, and brings Nick along. Roger Dodger was named the Best Narrative Feature in competition at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival.Synopsis by Josh Ralske, Allmovie.com
Roger is an advertising executive who explains that his technique is to make consumers feel miserable, so they can restore their happiness by buying the sponsor's product. In his private life, Roger is the product, trying to make women feel miserable about themselves and then offering himself as the cure. Roger is an optimist who keeps on talking, just as if his approach works.
As "Roger Dodger" opens, Roger (Campbell Scott) has just been dumped by his lover, Joyce (Isabella Rossellini), who is also his boss, and makes him feel miserable with admirable economy of speech: "I am your boss. You work for me. I have explained to you that I do not wish to see you socially any longer. Find a way to deal with it." Roger can't quite believe her. Indeed, he attends a party at her house that he has specifically not been invited to. He's an optimist in the face of setbacks, a con man who has conned himself.
Into his office and life one day walks his nephew Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), who is 16. Roger isn't on speaking terms with Nick's mother, but Nick is another matter, a young man who asks for guidance that Roger feels himself uniquely equipped to provide. Nick knows little of women and wants advice, and Roger starts with theory and then takes Nick nightclub-hopping so they can work on the practice. During one incredibly lucky evening, they meet Andrea and Sophie (Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals), who are intrigued by Nick's innocence, charmed by his honesty, and delighted by his wit. The kid's naivete acts like a mirror in which they can study their own attitudes. Roger the coach finds himself on the sidelines.
The movie, written and directed by Dylan Kidd, depends on its dialogue, and like a film by David Mamet or Neil LaBute has characters who use speech like an instrument. The screenplay would be entertaining just to read, as so very few are. Scott, who usually plays more conventional roles, emerges here as acid and sardonic, with a Shavian turn to his observations, and although his advice is not very useful, it is entertaining.
The problem of Nick's young age is one that several other movies, notably "Tadpole," have negotiated lately. Apparently when it comes to the age of consent for sex, in the movies young males don't count. If an innocent 16-year-old girl were taken to a nightclub by his aunt and set up with a couple of 30-something guys, the MPAA would be outraged and Hollywood terrified. But turn the tables and somehow the glint in Nick's eye takes care of everything.
"Roger Dodger" effectively deflects criticism in this area by making Roger the victim and the subject. While Nick is funny and earnest, and generates many laughs, the movie is really about Roger–about his attempts to tutor his nephew in a lifestyle that has left the older man lonely and single. The film is not just a lot of one-liners but has a buried agenda, as the funny early dialogue slides down into confusion and sadness. There is a lesson here for Nick, but not the one Roger is teaching.Review by Roger Ebert
IMDB 7,1/10 from 13 381 users
Wiki
Director: Dylan Kidd
Writer: Dylan Kidd
Cast: Campbell Scott, Jesse Eisenberg, Isabella Rossellini, Elizabeth Berkley, Jennifer Beals and other
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Roger Dodger (2002)
Special Features:
Audio commentary by writer/director Dylan Kidd and cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay
Audio commentary by writer/director Dylan Kidd and actors Campbell Scott and Jesse Eisenberg
Director's preface to the DVD special features
"The Composer and the Mixer" an interview with Craig Wedren
"The Producer" an interview with Anne Chaisson
"The Executive Producer" an interview with director Dylan Kidd and executive producer George van Buskirk
"Explanation of a Scene: Opaline" featurette
"New York at Night: the Roger Dodger Walking Tour with Jesse Eisenberg" featurette
Deleted scene (w/ optional commentary by Dylan Kidd)
Player's Guide to Scoring with Women text feature
Theatrical trailer
All thanks to original releaser
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