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The latest Transatlantic bulletin on the battle between the sexes comes courtesy of Dylan Kidd’s sharply amusing directorial debut. The titular Roger (Campbell Scott) is an advertising copywriter in Manhattan. We first meet him lunching with colleagues and expounding on his theories of sexual Darwinism: ‘In 10 or 15 years from now, men will be reduced to servitude.‘ he declares, arguing that artificial insemination will mean his gender will no longer being required for procreative
duties. :'
Glib and ultra-competitive, this modern-day Lothario describes his job as ‘sitting around and thinking I up ways to make people feel bad‘. ‘
His intimate relationship with his ‘ boss Joyce (Isabella Rossellini) might be on the slide, but he seems ‘ f ' oblivious to the warning signs. A " i i ' bar-room scene gives us insight ‘ ‘ into his pulling techniques: his , , '1 '
. . . Life lessons in seducmg women strategy Involves honing in on a ' I . woman‘s emotional vulnerability, and presenting weapons and also as a defensive shield to conceal his ' ‘ himself as the solution. own emotional immaturity. So often typecast in earnest ' '
The arrival of his 16-year-old nephew Nick (Jesse or sensitive roles, Scott impresses in his portrayal of the . t . ‘ U Eisenberg). who’s attending a university interview in smooth-talking seducer, giving his neurotic character an , . " ' New York, means that Roger is required to pass on his element of charisma, while the accomplished female " ‘ ' advice about how to impress the ladies. His talk is performances further undermine the man‘s reductive ' ‘ ' N peppered with phrases like “the zone’, ‘closing the version of the world. Grainin shot by Joaquin Baca- ' I deal‘, and ‘winning time’ and Nick is an eager pupil, Asay on handheld cameras, Roger Dodger won‘t win ‘ " ' keen to spend a night on the town with Uncle Roger. any prizes for formal beauty, although the nervy ' ‘
Yet when they start chatting to two women (Jennifer cinematography does provide an element of immediacy. '
Seals and Elizabeth Berkley) in a bar, it‘s the innocence It pays dividends in a key street scene, where Roger is ‘ ‘
and honesty of Nick that proves appealing, not his teaching his protege how to scout potential targets from Y ' ' I
mentor’s cliched cynicism. the opposite sex. And there’s also a welcome ambiguity ‘ Dispensing with back stories, Roger Dodger stands in in the way that Kidd resolves his story. with the ' , '
the darkly comic tradition of Neil LaBute‘s In the filmmaker providing an appropriate milieu for such a V , I '
Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours: childish adult. (Tom Dawson) ' ‘y I
once again a male sexual predator uses words as I Saw. fa: "_ 2:215,- ‘f
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