Rudy Blue Review
By Joe Lozito
Little Boy "Blue"
The crux of the action in "Rudy Blue", John Werner's meandering debut film, involves the everyday routines of playing chess and getting the newspaper. It is very difficult to pull off a film which has to involve the audience solely based on its characters, and Mr. Werner's overlong film doesn't give the audience nearly enough of interest in the character department.
The film explores the life of its title character (Brian Patrick Sullivan), a 35-year old history teacher, stuck living at home tending to his former opera diva mother (Lauren Klein, chewing the scenery with such relish as to border on camp) and his brain damaged brother Karl (an impressive Peter Stebbings). It is a familiar story, with echoes of the far superior "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". Not until Rudy meets an unbelievably perfect librarian (Tari Signor) does he realize that he has been using his family as an excuse not to take control of his life.
As Eve, Ms. Signor is forced to act the standard mousy librarian role, which requires something of a suspension of disbelief even with the requisite glasses. Rudy and Eve are forced to exchange dialog about the joys of reading - you see, they can both hear books speaking to them, and they both cried when the books were burnt in "Fahrenheit 451". It is clear from their first chance meeting that Rudy and Eve will end up together, although the reason is never quite apparent. This is especially apparent after a family dinner sequence which borders on farce.
The film, edited by Mr. Werner's wife, would benefit from a healthy degree of pruning. The first twenty minutes of the film could be compressed into five, and much of the dialog drives its point home unnecessarily and has the feel of an After School Special.
Mr. Werner and his cast of fine actors show a definite degree of promise. Particularly Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Stebbings as the Blue brothers. Kevin Nagle's cameo, as a pompous piano virtuoso, steals the show simply by breathing some welcome energy into a film which is otherwise as exciting as playing chess and getting the newspaper for two hours.
