The Life Of David Gale
In 1992's The Player, there's a memorable sequence that satirizes Hollywood's tendency to dumb down intelligent scripts. Specifically, the segment involves an originally smart screenplay about the death penalty that's taken by Hollywood and turned into a lame shoot 'em up action-fest in which a star actor, played by Bruce Willis, busts through security and rescues death-row inmate Julia Roberts mere moments before she's set to be executed.
In recent years, two Hollywood flicks have come perilously close to falling victim to these same cliches. In 1999, Clint Eastwood's uneven True Crime raised some interesting points about the death penalty but ultimately boiled down to a tired race-against-the-clock scenario. Now, The Life Of David Gale arrives, which features a suspiciously familiar plot in which a reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) races to find the truth about soon-to-be-executed death row inmate David Gale. Can The Life Of David Gale transcend the dangerous cliches exposed in The Player?
Kevin Spacey plays Gale, who we learn in flashbacks is a hard-drinking, popular professor and anti-death penalty advocate. One drunken evening, he has a sexual tryst with a student that eventually results in a lawsuit, Gale losing his job, Gale turning to even heavier drinking and then ultimately becoming convicted of the murder of fellow death-penalty abolitionist Constance Hallaway (Laura Linney).
A few years later, Gale is about to be executed, and Ms. Bitsey Bloom is chosen by Gale and his lawyer to have an exclusive interview with Gale. During the course of her interviews, Bitsey begins to suspect that Gale is innocent, and races to gather the evidence that will exonerate him.
The biggest problem with The Life Of David Gale is that it tries to be a wild thriller AND a deep drama about the death penalty. No dice. By throwing one twist after another at the audience, Gale ultimately belittles the important death penalty issues at hand. Compared to the excellent Dead Man Walking and even True Crime, David Gale comes up short. As it progresses, it slowly grows more ridiculous and unbelievable. In a less serious thriller you could let that go, but not in this case.
The Life Of David Gale also gets a lot of the little details wrong, from lame plot points (a car that breaks down at the worst times) to weak supporting characters (Bitsey's obnoxious intern). The biggest brick is an inappropriate editing style that serves as the segue between "modern-day" and flashback sequences. As annoying music builds, the image on screen whirles while "deep" words like "justice" flash on screen. It's an abrasive technique and one of the biggest stylistic misfires in recent memory.
Even the impressive all-star cast can't save this film, although the interaction between Spacey and Linney does yield some memorable scenes. The Life Of David Gale has its moments, but in the end the film feels more like a cheap, hollow stunt than anything else.
Send any comments/ feedback to the author.
Spacey does some drunken rumblin' and stumblin', but it's unlikely that it'll encourage you to lift the bottle.
There's a female seductress there, a touching love scene here, but overall not enought to recommend this as a romance-inducing pic.
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