The Movie Guys: ‘Ride with the Devil’ misses target

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 9:34 a.m.

The Movie Guys, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Fridays in the Sun (Movie Buzz written by Thomas Feeney). They can also be seen on the 11 a.m. Friday newscast on KVVU Channel 5. Plus, check them out online at lasvegassun.com/ sun/ sunlife/ movies and themovieguys.com.

Grades: Jeff D, Dave C.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jewel, Jeffrey Wright and Simon.

Screenplay: James Schamus.

Director: Ang Lee.

Rated: R for graphic violence.

Running time: 138 minutes.

Playing at: Gold Coast Twin.

Synopsis: In 1861 the American Civil War is about to break out and best friends Jakob Roedel and Jack Bull Chiles (Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich) find themselves thrust into battle when Union marauders destroy Jack's family plantation. They join the Bushwhackers, a skilled unit of guerilla-style fighters, and fight side by side until some of the members begin to distrust Jakob and his Union-sympathizing father. As the war progresses and brutal battles intensify, the young men reach turning points both in the fighting and in the themselves.

Dave: Hard to imagine that acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee, whose credits include "Sense and Sensibility" and "The Ice Storm," would stumble over his next project involving a talented young cast and an unfamiliar chapter of the Civil War. However, these miscast misfits are given a conflicting story that holds as much interest as pop musician Jewel, who is making her screen debut.

Battles are being waged by the pro-Southern Bushwhackers along the Missouri/Kansas border where two childhood friends join the Confederate cause and find more grief than victory. The son of a German immigrant and Union sympathizer, Jake Roedel (Maguire) hides in the forestry hills along with friend Jack Bull Chiles (Ulrich) and a youthful militia as they make dangerous raids on the North Union soldiers and allies. What happens from here on out becomes a meandering mess.

Jeff: A dull and dreary mess, Dave, at that. It's as if USA Films presented a high school production of a forgotten Civil War story. A story that possesses no struggle of brother against brother, historical significance or even a somewhat exciting battle scene to keep your attention. The cast is talented, but out of its league, assuming laughable Southern accents and dull articulation. It's reminiscent of the film "Young Guns," in which the Gen X cast rode the trail with long hair flowing in the wind, armed with good looks and quick one-liners and conquering the Wild West.

Here in "Ride with the Devil" they fail. The Bushwhackers fought sneak attacks and were confined to fighting the Union Army in their own neighborhoods. Many times they would fight friends and neighbors and didn't care much about the politics of the war, but only which side they belonged to. The film takes the unwise turn of exploring these best friends, instead of relying on their assaults or how the ravages of war have destroyed their lives and families. The film moves at a pace slower than Sherman's March to the sea, and in the end has the same effect.

Dave: Once established as fearless Bushwhackers, the group must disband and find shelter from the harsh winter. Roedel and Chiles shack up with two fellow Bushwhackers, George Clyde (Simon Baker) and his loyal former slave, Holt (Jeffrey Wright). Their tiresome stay in a hidden dugout fort forges a friendship between Roedel and Holt, whose curiously strange involvement with the Confederacy is never quite clear. Plus, a brief romance is stirred between Chiles and a young widow (Jewel), which only leads to a drastic end and later Roedel's reluctant involvement.

By the time the war flushes them out, we learn that their motives have absolutely nothing in common with personal politics. When Roedel asks a compassionate countryman, "Are you saying we're fighting for nothing?" the response is: "No, just that what we're fighting for is dead."

Jeff: Collaborating once more with Maguire, screenwriter and co-producer James Schamus and cinematographer Frederick Elmes, Lee shows his talent for outstanding direction and skill behind the camera is never in question. Yet fault lies in his casting choices. Maguire, in a search for a defining role, possesses the same amount of emotion in one dreadful stare after another, mumbling his lines into oblivion. Looking to heal the wounds from his last outing in "The Chill Factor," Ulrich seems a more suitable choice as Johnny Depp's stand-in rather than most of the leading roles he has appeared in. Blame your agent, Skeet. Only Jeffrey Wright appears to be the standout performer, making do with what little he had to begin with. "Ride with the Devil" is just that and it's a two-plus hour ride that is just plain hell on Earth.

Movie buzz

Incredible Shrinking Murphy?: Given Eddie Murphy's recent success with remakes of "The Nutty Professor" and "Doctor Dolittle," it probably won't be a surprise to anyone that he's scoping out yet another classic to destroy (um, we mean remake). According to Variety, Murphy is considering taking on the title role of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" for Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Fred Wolf ("Dirty Work") is said to be writing a script for the film.

Messiah Man: Mike Judge, the man behind "Beavis and Butt-head" (heh-heh ... he said "behind") has signed on to direct Columbia Pictures' live-action comedy "Messiah Complex." According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will tell the story of a virginal college student who is led to believe that he was cloned from genetic material extracted from the Shroud of Turin. Whoa ... that sounds cool or something.

Big Screen "Simpsons": Finally, a movie screen big enough to show Homer in his full donut-eating glory! The IMAX Corp. announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with DreamWorks SKG, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures Imageworks to bring "The Simpsons" and other famous animated characters to the IMAX 3D screen in a new film titled "Cyberworld." One of the scenes in the film will be Homer's 3D adventure from a "Simpsons" episode of a few seasons ago. "CyberWorld" is scheduled to hit IMAX theaters worldwide in October.

archive