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Review #462 of 365
Movie Review of Bug (2007) [R] 102 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $7.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 26 May 2007
Time: 5:50 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: 25 September 2007
Directed by: William Friedkin (The Hunted)
Written by: Tracy Letts based on his play
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Ashley Judd (De-Lovely) • Michael Shannon (World Trade Center) • Lynn Collins (The Number 23) • Brian F. O'Byrne (The New World) • Harry Connick Jr. ("Will & Grace")
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William Friedkin has directed a huge number of movies other than The Exorcist. Why do the posters and trailers for Bug tout his direction of The Exorcist? There can be only one reason. Marketers want you to think that Bug is very scary. In fact, the trailer does make the film look very scary. In fact, commercials tout the film as one of the most horrifying films ever. Why then did the audience I joined at 5:50 p.m. on a Saturday, a relatively serious crowd of mostly people post 30, spend a lot of time during the film's most climatic moments laughing—and not a 40-Year Old Virgin or Talladega Nights type of laughing rather a sort of uncomfortable you've got to sort of laugh, cry, or stand up and demand your money back sort of laughing at the peculiar and ridiculousness of the course the film takes. Actor Tracy Letts wrote the play, "Bug", which he then adapted for the screen. Perhaps the play was better and more horrifying to see the events unfold on the faces of the actors live before you, but the effect in the film was not so good.
"…if you are expecting a horrifying and brilliant film…forget it…In a word, the film could simply be called disappointing."
Stage plays traditionally have some trouble in transition especially if they were ones that take place nearly entirely in one room as does "Bug". In this case, it's the Rustic Motel Room #7 in a tiny town in Oklahoma. There are a couple of scenes in a bar and flashbacks into a grocery store, but the bulk of the film takes place in the tiny motel suite with bedroom, bathroom, living area and kitchen. The plot is simple enough. A 30-something year old woman named Agnes (Ashley Judd) is barely getting by. Her ex-husband is in prison, or so she thought, for armed robbery. Her best friend is a sexy lesbian named R.C. (Lynn Collins) who tries to keep up her spirits via parties and cocaine. Agnes has a dark secret that haunts her and tore apart her marriage years ago. She gets harassing phone calls late at night from a breather. One night, R.C. brings over a guy she met for five minutes in the Honky Tonk bar where they work to a mini-party at Agnes's motel room. He's kind of creepy and shy, but he seems mostly harmless despite a mention that he might be an axe murderer, named Peter Evans (Michael Shannon). After much ado about nothing, R.C. has to zip off and Peter stays and gets to know Agnes better. She eventually invites him to stay the night on her sofa after learning he's basically got nowhere to go. The next morning, Jerry Goss (Harry Connick Jr.), her ex, shows up. He's excited to see her, her not so much to see him. Turns out he's taken a whack or two at her in the past. She mentions a person named Lloyd, and he goes ballistic knocking her off her feet. He says he'll be back in a week and she better be more accommodating to him next time around. Peter returns from getting Agnes some breakfast to find her on the floor bleeding from the mouth and gets into a discussion with Goss. Goss takes all the money from Agnes's bar tips and leaves. After this, of course, Peter and Agnes begin to bond.
He is her knight in shining armor. They have an intimate encounter, Peter's first in a long, long time. After which, Peter begins to share with Agnes his Bug problem. He finds an invisible aphid-like bug in their bed. She cannot see it. "It's very small." He kills it, but this is just the beginning of what was supposed to be a horrifying spiral down a terrifying staircase. For a time, it has good promise. Peter, who seemed weird, from the beginning, turns out to be far worse than an axe murderer. And Agnes's insecurity binds her to him far more powerfully than should be logical given her history with men. Unfortunately, Tracy Letts and William Friedkin allowed the drama to turn comedic and the much needed answers to be left to speculation leaving many uncomfortable moments and inexplicable occurrences. No spoilers here, except to say, if you are expecting a horrifying and brilliant film based on the trailer and the studio's 6-month delay in releasing the film, forget it. The film is far, far from brilliant, far, far from horrifying, and the ending will just leave you mostly mortified. I am not going to lie. By the end, half the people in the audience were laughing, five or six were talking about how they could get their money back, and a couple were saying, "That dude from World Trade Center, you know the Bug guy, what's his name [Michael Shannon] was amazing, but what was this movie really about?" To be fair, the actors did exceptional jobs with their characters. They didn't have a lot to go on. It's not that the characters aren't deep, they are, it's more that there's not as much really going on as we might hope or think. In a word, the film could simply be called disappointing.
Ashley Judd Buy From Art.com
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring Bug (2007)
Cast Members
Ashley Judd
• Michael Shannon • Lynn CollinsBrian F. O'Byrne
• Harry Connick Jr.Director
William Friedkin
Writer
Tracy Letts
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Bug (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
William Friedkin directs the long-delayed, Ashely Judd / Michael Shannon film Bug about a shy former military guy who invades, in the most clandestine way, the life of the ex-wife of a guy in the pen taking her down with him as he endures a complete paranoid mental breakdown believing that he is the victim of a government conspiracy to test a new form of biological weapon on him. What bugged me most about Bug was not the pointless, stupefying ending, but rather the clever marketing scheme that drew me in with such high hopes. Big mistake. If a film is not that good, better to keep the expectations low and garner the term "better than expected" rather than the alternative. Fine performances by Judd and Shannon and Harry Connick Jr. aside, this film conjured more laughter than horror.
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