Duchovny's film 'Playing God' falls short of being heaven sent

By Jamie Davis

JAKARTA (JP): It's nothing new: TV star gets tailor-made film to launch movie career. It's almost like A leads to B.

So it wasn't surprising at all to see that X-Files star David Duchovny -- who has had a few unheralded film roles before his TV success -- has made a bid to establish himself on the silver screen with the new crime thriller Playing God, now at Jakarta theaters.

The premise of the story is interesting enough. Hot-shot surgeon-turned-drug-junkie Eugene Sands (Duchovny), cast out of the medical profession for losing a patient while high on amphetamines, witnesses a shooting at a Los Angeles dive while looking for his next fix.

Seeing that nobody is willing to call 911 for fear of involving the law, Sands steps in to save the dying man. But, with this decision, the ex-doctor's life takes a new turn when small-time pirated goods mobster Raymond Blossom (Timothy Hutton) takes an interest in Sands and wishes to thank him for saving his henchman.

As A leads to B and B leads to C, Sands explains in somewhat pseudo-philosophical narration, life's decisions can take a person to unthought of places. And so Sands is given the opportunity by Blossom to practice medicine again on casualties of a little underworld war heating up against some former Bulgarian clients.

The first 20 minutes of the movie shows our hero thrown into the mob world of Blossom -- where cash and bullets are exchanged as casually as a hello -- and introduced to his luscious girlfriend Claire (Angelina Jolie), who we are sure will bed down with Sands sooner or later.

Not a bad start.

That is, if you can ignore the high school tough-guy talk screenwriter Mark Haskell Smith cooked up to pose as dialog and the disquieting feeling of not being quite so sure whether the film wishes to be taken seriously or not.

Just as we try to forget the philosophies of A leading to B and B leading to C, Sands reflects on events as he finds himself being led to meet Blossom for the first time: "If your life is going fairly well, and you suddenly find yourself walking down a beach with Metallica rejects, you may think you're having a bad day. However, if your life's in the toilet already, you may find yourself thinking: Hey, I am at the beach."

Is this supposed to be my-soul-has-been-eaten-away talk or a spoof on the hip "ironic" comedy of Quinten Tarantino films?

Not being quite sure what this film intends itself to be, my inner gearbox finds itself wrenching between gears as I'm forced to take in the exchange between Sands and Blossom as they meet: "Are you going to hurt me?" "Why? Because you're afraid, or because you want me to?" "I'm just trying to plan my day."

Spoof or for real, it's just bad.

And unfortunately, this kind of dialog is what we are left with as the plot and action starts to spiral downhill.

Enter a bad-boy I'll-do-anything-to-get-a-wire-on-you FBI agent and inane shoot-out scenes killing half the cast but somewhat lacking in the Jon Woo way of things and the little mob war turns into a bit of a bore.

But Hutton's performance does entertain. High on power and a beautiful girlfriend, Blossom provides us with some amusing antics.

This, however, becomes a detriment later as he really cannot be taken seriously as someone who is dangerous even when he's shooting up people and trying to scare Claire into submission.

Duchovny's part calls for grim sarcasm and resignation to life's twists and turns as Sands wrestles with the demons of his past. And he delivers, though the role is somewhat limited in scope and the lines are made to impress no one more sophisticated than a 15 year old.

Although the movie is a vehicle to advance Duchovny's career, Hutton's supporting performance creeps dangerously close to overshadowing our leading actor.

It is also a bit disappointing that Jolie has no part to speak of, though she eats up the screen with her tantalizing lips.

As the movie drew to a close and I felt myself somewhat entertained, a soft spot in my heart really hoped that the filmmakers were not taking themselves too seriously.

High on vogue but blemished by clichs and tough talk, Playing God really falls short of its potential to explore the moral implications of people finding themselves as the dispensers of life and death.

It also may not be enough to lead Duchovny from B to C.