Film Reviews

Full Frontal

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Blair Underwood
• Details: US / 101 mins / (15PG).

One of those films that appears to have more half ideas than it knows what to do with, Full Frontal is intermediately interesting but largely self-indulgent fare. In terms of narrative, Full Frontal (which, contrary to rumours, doesn't feature Julia Roberts in the buff) is deeply fractured stuff, using a Hollywood movie as its central thread to examine the lives of several Los Angeles characters. These include film stars (Roberts and Underwood), producer Gus (Duchovny), a writer (Hyde Pierce), his highly strung wife Lee (Keener), her sister (McCormack) and a put upon theatre director (Enrico Colantoni).
Full Frontal boasts that it covers the same thematic ground as Soderbergh's extraordinary debut Sex, Lies and Videotape, but the director seems more interested in roping his famous mates for a half-hearted, slightly smug, grainy look at relationships and mid life, while playing with narrative conventions. Yes, there some good ideas here, and some of the performances are excellent - few actors can better Hyde Pierce when it comes to buttoned down repression and Keener is extremely funny. But ultimately Full Frontal is one of those films which over estimates its own importance and seems to be little more than a vanity project for its director, apparently desperate to reaffirm his 'indie' credentials after a slew of blockbuste

Review by Garreth Murphy