‘American Gigolo’ Review: Jon Bernthal in Showtime’s Painfully Useless Remake

Showtime got a little lucky The man who fell to earth. The sci-fi drama took on a title that meant little to modern audiences and a story that didn’t really call for a new-age sequel, but creators Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman had a specific, modern story they wanted. to tell and, in Chiwetel Ejiofor, a fully committed protagonist, who delivers a wild, funny and moving central performance.

Perhaps due to the 1976 film’s (and the 1963 novel’s) arbitrary attempt to get around the title. The man who fell to earth He didn’t seem to make any noise, and Ejiofor didn’t even break the outer edges of Amy’s conversation.

Showtime wasn’t so lucky american gigolo. by David HollanderRay Donovan) of Paul Schrader’s 1980 feature film faces two big questions: why pick up a loose thread from this particular story? And why do you do it now? After three full episodes, I don’t have anything like an answer to any of the questions.

The latest episodes sent to critics are likely on the spot. american gigolo You must reach the end of the pilot. Despite star Jon Bernthal’s mediocre performance, none of the narratives or character developments hinted at in these earlier episodes give any indication that this journey is worth continuing.

Schrader’s film is an anthropological examination of early Reagan-era Los Angeles, an ambiguous look at fashion, music and how a young Richard Gere embraced a generation of female desire. It is about the connection, or perhaps the disconnection, between sex and sexuality. There’s also a murder mystery that’s mostly uninteresting, though it’s fun to see Gere and Hector Elizondo get into a verbal fight, or Gere hang Bill Duke from a balcony.

Like a TV series american gigolo It brings to the foreground something that was in the background of the film, without any awareness that it was never fascinating in the first place, and replaces all the fascinating elements that the film was about with absolutely nothing.

We start with Julian Kaye’s release from Bernthal after 15 years for a murder he didn’t commit. It’s not exactly the same suspicious murder in the movie, but it’s pretty close. Elizondo’s Sunday is now played by Rosie O’Donnell, who still has her doubts. Sunday’s suspicions make Julian suspicious, and while his name is squeaky clean, he wants to find out who did it. This forces her to return to her former pimp queen (Sandrine Holt), her mischievous daughter Isabelle (Lizzy Broschere) and her bewitched old husband Lorenzo (Wayne Brady).

Freedom also gives Julian the opportunity to obsess over Michelle (Gretchen Molly, replacing Lauren Hutton), with whom he has a cold and not entirely convincing love affair in the film, though Holland totally buys it. If I were to point out one fatal flaw in the series, it’s Hollander’s strange faith in what the Shredder treats as superficially mediocre, from the deliberately brilliant and dark style to Julian’s protests about why he only cares about women. Perhaps later episodes will delve deeper. I won’t be around to find out.

In fact, before this fatal flaw, it would have highlighted the fact that the movie could only take place in one city and one point in time, and the time and geography of the series are completely fluid. Hollander, who wrote and directed the first two episodes (and served as showrunner until the end), goes so far as to completely recreate some of the film’s most striking and familiar images, while retaining iconic landmarks like the old Julian convertible. . rolling on the beach and Blondie’s “Call Me,” except that Bernthal would have been four in 1980, and no attempt has been made to explain why this student of the art of pleasure would also be a student of ’80s nostalgia. AIDS in Los Angeles must be different from the 2006 hype, but you wouldn’t notice it here. Adding to the confusion is the show’s decision to refer to the queen as “Westside Madam”, linking her to Heidi Fly, whose own reign of power was in the early 1990s.

Despite being very well produced, american gigolo It really has no sense of time and therefore no sense of changing ideas about desire or changing perceptions of sexual performance. If you want an in-depth look at 21st century sex work, there are three seasons of Starz. The lover’s experience Just sat there. Replacing Venice Beach’s Malibu and Beverly Hills sets with the movie might say something about Los Angeles fashion, but if it’s trying to give the city an ounce of authenticity, it could also erase a Latino character’s racial identity. Was it an awkward movie choice?

with us. Well a real fatal flaw american gigolo It’s kind of boring and kind of fun. It’s structured like a revenge mystery, as if the movie’s plot is really the only thing that matters to everyone. It’s an odd and oddly predictable approach, as well as a misguided attempt to take a deliberately mysterious character from the film and give him an over-explained origin story that borders dangerously on the glamorization of child sex trafficking. There’s a subplot involving a relationship between a teacher and a high school student that purports to expose how the media handles rape cases, but it’s just american gigolo Trying both ways.

It’s all a waste of Bernthal, who actually could have been a great lead for a modern exploration of masculinity and sexuality as a commodity, but had nothing to play for. O’Donnell, Broschere and especially Brady generate more interest and more threat, but not enough to sustain american gigolo to see

Seeing the talent behind the upcoming episodes gives us hope. Greg Arak and Cheryl Dunier (who probably would have been better choices to guide the show’s visual palette early on) produce the sequels and, as I said, by the end of the third episode, it’s on to something better. Perhaps some research can be done on the 40-year evolution of Julian’s sexuality, the 2022 version of LA culture, sex work. Once again, I won’t stop to find out.