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 Here’s
a good rule of thumb: Any movie featuring a quote in its ad from
the poet laureate of Great Britain—“Deeply engaging!”—is in trouble.
In Masked and Anonymous, Bob Dylan stars as a legendary troubadour
named Jack Fate who is headlining a fund-raiser in what looks like
a postapocalyptic America in the midst of civil war. The cast includes
Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris
(in blackface!), Mickey Rourke, Bruce Dern, Luke Wilson, and Penélope
Cruz. They have the satisfaction of knowing that the worst movie
of their careers is now behind them. The dialogue is a high-toned
meta-philosophical babble I’m tempted to call stream-of-consciousness,
except that would be unfair to consciousness. The question we are
supposed to be asking ourselves at the end is, where are we as a
people? The more obvious question that sprang to mind was, what
are these people smoking?
Dylan has not had a happy movie career. Some of us are still scratching
our heads over his mumbly role as Alias in Pat Garrett and Billy
the Kid; and Renaldo and Clara, at nearly five hours,
was nearly five hours too long. When he’s performing onstage, his
impassivity is all of a piece with his singsong drone—his zombie
act has a folkie flair. (The film features eight Dylan numbers—its
only consolation.) But as an actor, he looks likes he’s been shot
up head to toe with Novocaine. There’s a difference between deadpan
and just plain dead. Dylan, under a pseudonym, co-wrote the movie
with director Larry Charles, who worked on Seinfeld and obviously
believes there is more to life than laughs. Intentional ones, anyway.
(1 hr. 47 mins.; PG-13) — PETER RAINER
Opens July 24
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
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