Gods and Monsters

reviewed Thu, 26 Nov 1998 22:22:22 EST

I'm sorry to report that Gods and Monsters didn't live up to the high expectations I had for it. It's about the last days of James Whale (Ian McKellen), who directed the first two Frankenstein movies and was the only openly gay director in Hollywood at that time. Whale, ailing and lonely, befriends Clay, the big lunk (Brendan Fraser) who cuts his lawn, and the predictable clashes between Whale's desire and Clay's unenlightened homophobia ensue, but of course Clay comes around in the end. In the end, the film can be summed up in the words of Frankenstein's monster: "Alone bad. Friend good." Great. Tell me something I don't know.

The material has great potential, but unfortunately, the movie is flat and uninspired. Even McKellen, who I think is one of the greatest actors around, doesn't breathe any life into it. It doesn't help that the director seems to know only two camera angles. He throws in flashback scenes that have no connection to the main action of the story and commits the sin of telling rather than showing. The dialogue is pedestrian and unimaginative. And there's a wretched performance by Lynn Redgrave as Whale's housekeeper, speaking with an outrageous "German" accent that makes her sound like Frau Blucher (insert whinny here) from Young Frankenstein (which brings up another problem -- I can't see the Frankenstein monster now without thinking of either Peter Boyle or Phil Hartman). Fraser plays the thick-headed Clay all too well -- he's just impenetrable. Skip this one.

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