Ed Begley, Jr. headlines the LA production as President
Charles “Chuck” Smith. As Smith’s failed first term is
drawing to a close, he’s less interested in being re-elected than in
ensuring he has enough cash with which to build and furnish an impressive
presidential library. When Smith learns he only has $4,000 in his library
fund, he begins to concoct far-fetched fundraising schemes with the help of his
closest advisor, Archer Brown (played by Rod McLachlan). Their most
immediate target becomes the National Association of Turkey and Turkey
By-Products Manufacturers, whose chief representative (the very funny Todd Weeks)
happens to be waiting at the moment outside the Oval Office along with two
turkeys waiting to be pardoned for Thanksgiving.
Smith also enlists the help of his longtime speechwriter,
Clarice Bernstein (former Desperate Housewife and Transamerica Oscar nominee Felicity
Huffman), to craft an alternate Thanksgiving Day mascot and menu item should
the turkey rep fail to meet the President’s extortionist demands. Bernstein
is an out lesbian who has just returned with her partner from a trip to China, where
the pair adopted a baby girl. She also may have brought back an infection
with highly-contagious bird flu.
While November
is full of ripe ingredients for an effective satire, Mamet’s dish
ultimately feels under-baked. The cast works hard (especially Begley,
who
suffered a frog in his throat and some resultant poor delivery during
his first
scene on opening night but triumphed through the remainder of the
performance) and
Takeshi Kata’s Oval Office set is excellent, but too much of the play’s
humor is dependent on unoriginal swipes at Jews, the Chinese and, yes,
GLBT
people. Huffman is a hoot in the final scene, wherein she sashays about
in a lavish wedding dress waiting for the President to marry her and
her
partner on national television (an arrangement she has herself
extorted), and the
play ends up taking a strong stance for same-sex marriage. GLBT members
of the audience, however, have to endure more than a few references to
gay love
as “disgusting” and “unnatural” along the way.
November is minor Mamet and hardly a play for the ages, unlike most of his other works. If the
satirically-minded among us aren’t getting enough kicks out of the
current debates, though, this big-name LA production may be just the ticket to
comedy heaven.
Speaking
of presidential elections, the last time a James Bond adventure hit the
big screen was just after Barack Obama's victory in 2008. Now, 50
years after the debut of Dr. No -- the first feature movie adapted from
one of Ian Fleming's classic novels -- and just prior to next month's
premiere of the Sam Mendes-directed Skyfall, there is a terrific new documentary detailing the long-running film series' history. Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 is now playing theatrically in the UK and on the EPIX satellite channel here in the US.
Writer-director Stevan Riley (Fire in Babylon, Rave Against the Machine)
expertly distills five decades' worth of backstage and onscreen drama
into 98 rapid-fire minutes. He incorporates interviews with Fleming
and those who knew him, including distant cousin and horror film star
Christopher Lee, who played the villain Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun;
footage from Fleming's home movies; snippets from the 22 Bond features;
and, most effectively, excerpts from the various Bond movie scores as
the documentary's soundtrack.
"Fleming
put his own struggles on the page," says current Bond Daniel Craig,
while another commentator refers to the British superspy's creator as "a
man of infinite contradictions." Whereas Bond actually made his first
appearance off the page in an American (and Americanized) TV adaptation
of Casino Royale, it was producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and
former circus showman Harry Saltzman who transferred Bond to the silver
screen in 1962, and in the iconic form of Sean Connery.
Everything or Nothing
(which was Broccoli's and Saltzman's motto as producers, the initials
of which — EON — composed the name of their production company) recounts
the Connery years, as well as the one-time appearance of George Lazenby
in the role. Lazenby gives a great interview in the doc, during which
he reveals that he had to convince Broccoli and Saltman he wasn't gay
since his only prior experience on camera was as a male model.
Subsequent Bonds Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan also
give illuminating interviews.
Saltzman
eventually had to sell his share in the franchise in order to pay off
debts, which made Broccoli the sole proprietor behind the Bond films
from 1976 until his death twenty years later. His daughter, Barbara,
and son-in-law Michael Wilson are the current custodians of the Bond
name. "Cubby," Wilson states, "never took the audience for granted."
This shows, I believe, in the series' remarkable consistency and
endurance.
Moore's last appearance as Bond in 1985's A View to a Kill is strangely omitted, but Everything or Nothing
is otherwise a thoroughly, captivatingly comprehensive tour of 50 years
of cinema and cultural history. It's also one of the best, most
uniquely crafted documentaries I've seen this year.
Reverend’s Ratings:
November: B
Everything or Nothing: A-
Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.
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