Avuncular

Roger Dodger

(2002)

OK, I defy you to take a time machine back six years, watch this movie, and not say some equivalent of: "Dylan Kidd: gonna be huge!" But in fact, here it is 2008, more or less, and Kidd has written and directed one pretty crappy movie since. In baseball, we'd call this the sophomore jinx--but in baseball he'd have had four more seasons to give us an idea whether the Rookie of the Year was going to be a perennial All-Star or had been just a flash in the pan.

Anyway, this one is a jewel, regardless of what Kidd does or doesn't hence. Campbell Scott as the titular Roger, who poses as a misanthrope and a misogynist, when really it's just himself he hates. Jesse Eisenberg (who avoided the sophomore jinx quite nicely, thank you, with a little something called The Squid and the Whale) is Roger's virginal nephew, hoping for help getting over that, and Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals, swear to god, are excellent in small roles as the boys' libidinal targets. The film swerves toward extremes of sour and sweet but keeps its footing--the work of a remarkably assured first-time filmmaker. So what the fuck happened, Dylan?

Oh, and lest I forget (actually I did: it's Sun. a.m. now), back when I started working out to DVD extras, this was one of the first I employed, and the quality of its material spoiled me for a lot of discs since: several featurettes w/ crew members, plus a commentary track w/ Kidd and his DP, all functioning as a sort of "film school in a box," as he puts it--fascinating stuff. Then there's a wildly entertaining 2nd commentary track w/ Eisenberg being a teenager and Scott behaving like one.