Film Reviews

Roger Dodger

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Campbell Scott
• Details: US / 105 minutes / (No Cert).

Despite its awful title, Roger Dodger is a witty and intelligent sideswipe at the contradictory, combative nature of the competitive male psyche. In probably his best screen performance, Campbell Scott plays the title character, a copy writer at a Manhattan advertising firm whose acerbic charm and cynical observations prove popular with his co-workers, especially his boss who doubles as his occasional bed partner, Joyce (Isabella Rossellini). When Joyce unceremoniously dumps Roger and his 16-year-old nephew Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) arrives in New York City, it is the catalyst for an evening of self-discovery. Indeed, his nephew is pining for some sexual experience and believes that Roger is the perfect man to teach him about women. The increasingly brittle (and perhaps even delusional) Roger agrees but things don't really go exactly according to plan.
A sharp black hearted dissection of the male consciousness, Roger Dodger crackles with a real energy and intensity, and Kidd makes his point without ever resorting to sanctimonious moralising. The writing is exquisite - characters like Roger don't come along very often - and Scott gives the performance of his career. He's charming, cynical and desperately angry, which makes him both repugnant and intensely seductive. The only downside is that the jumpy camerawork occasionally detracts from what is unfolding on screen and when you've characters as sharp and well written as these, that's a crime.

Review by Garreth Murphy