Apparently,
screenwriting workshops have been encouraging fledgling filmmakers to withhold
their lead characters' backstories for as long as possible, because lately
there's been a rash of indie dramas and comedies in which people hint about
dark secrets and profound tragedy in their pasts, but don't reveal anything
until after about 90 minutes of inexplicable behavior and brooding. Case-in-point:
Marianna Palka's twisted romantic comedy Good Dick, in which homeless video store
employee Jason Ritter becomes smitten with a mousy, porn-obsessed customer
played by Palka. Why is he so obsessed with getting her to open up and talk
about why she loves porn? More importantly, why does she tolerate him? If it weren't for these questions,
introduced early, Good Dick would be devoid of any reason to keep watching.
Slackers
who sit around a Los Angeles video store arguing about pop culture and sex
dominate the cast. Ritter's the exception. He's a sweet-natured dreamer who
lives out of his car, and is willing to let Palka torture him with bizarre
demands just for the chance to get closer to her. Ritter's the kind of cutesy
emo-boy who sleeps on Palka's couch then wakes up early so he can tie a string
to her foot, attached to a thank-you note in the other room. And she's the kind
of impenetrably offbeat gal who doesn't think it's strange when he insists on
washing her hair before he'll let her wear a piece of jewelry he wants to
share. In other words: Good Dick is indie-quirk to the motherfucking core. Not a single line
or gesture has anything to do with the world in which real people live.
Some of Good
Dick's clerk-chat
is funny—especially anything involving the perpetually put-upon Martin
Starr—and some of the more twisted aspects of the Ritter/Palka
relationship hold a perverse fascination. But mostly the movie is eccentric and
edgy in childish ways, relying on offhand shock and predictable revelations.
Mainly, Good Dick
just proves that TV actors like Ritter make good indie-film hires, because
they'll go along with whatever ridiculous nonsense a novice filmmaker concocts.