THE PALLBEARER is THE GRADUATE for the 90s. The locale has been
shifted to Brooklyn and the protagonist lives only with his
insufferable mother (Carol Kane), but the rest of the major story
elements are in place. Don't get me wrong, this is not a literal
remake, but if you try to count the number of similarities, you will
soon lose track. First, and foremost, the twenty-five year old lead
character, Tom Thompson (David Schwimmer), sounds and acts like Dustin
Hoffman did in THE GRADUATE.
The set up for THE PALLBEARER is that Ruth Abernathy (Barbara
Hershey), referred to in the film, of course, as Mrs. Abernathy a la
Mrs. Robinson, calls Tom and asks him to be a Pallbearer at her son
Bill's funeral. There is a small problem in that, although Tom went to
high school with Bill, he does not remember him at all. Moreover, none
of his friends from high school, Julie DeMarco (Gwyneth Paltrow), Brad
Schorr (Michael Rapaport), Cynthia Edelman (Toni Collette from MURIEL'S
WEDDING), Scott Edelman (Michael Vartan), and Lauren (Bitty Schram),
can remember Bill either. When they look up Bill's picture in the
annual, it is blank, and the only info is that he was in the chess
club.
Soon it goes from bad to worse as Ruth becomes convinced that Tom
was Bill's best friend and so gets Tom to agree to do the eulogy. Tom
starts off with "Who is Bill Abernathy? This is not an easy question
to answer." He then goes on to wing it with his friends in the pews in
stitches. The speech felt like it was lifted straight from Hugh
Grant's wedding speech in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. This is one
derivative show from beginning to end.
Just like in THE GRADUATE, Tom falls in love with the naturally
beautiful Julie who is his age. At the same time, the older, heavily
made-up, peroxide blonde Mrs. Abernathy seduces him. This puts him in
an untenable situation. Remember the problems this caused in THE
GRADUATE? Well, many of them are replayed here, but not as well.
The problem with THE PALLBEARER has nothing to do with the casting
or the acting. Most of the acting, with the exception of the poor
performance by Hershey, is fine. The problem is the script by Jason
Katims and the directing by Matt Reeves. The show is kept at the
superficial level. There is not a character that is real or that you
care about. Now, strictly as escapist entertainment, it almost works.
Certainly there are many big laughs in the show, but I left the movie
feeling a bit cheated and unsatisfied. The film just does not realize
its potential.
THE PALLBEARER runs too long at 1:46. It is rated PG-13, but it
is a mild PG-13. There is no sex, nudity, or violence, and the
language is pretty tame. It would be fine for kids over 9 although I
suspect, given the subject matter, it might be more appropriate for
those over 12. Several big laughs were not enough to get me to
recommend this retread, but I am giving it ** for the laughs and for
David Schwimmer's performance.
Copyright © 1996 Steve Rhodes
