|
|
Article: Mamet's hard-charging `Buffalo' imprisoned in static film version
- Article from:
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI)
- Article date:
- October 4, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
In lives devoid of meaning or direction, the smallest slight has
significance and the most harebrained scheme is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. "American Buffalo" is a confluence of such variables,
of empty lives, long-standing grudges and a doomed get-rich-quick
scam, all trapped under one roof and given David Mamet's patented
mix of testosterone and profanity.
Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize for the 1975 play, establishing his
reputation and setting his themes in stone. But Michael Corrente's
dense and domesticated film version is absent gravity or momentum.
It is a static character study of static characters told in an angry
and self-conscious monotone, although admirably acted by Dustin ...