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Review by Harvey Karten
3½ stars out of 4
If Andrew Niccol's "Simone" could be taken as a sendup of
the corruptibility of film audiences by celebrities, then Paul
Schrader's "Auto Focus" would be an incisive portrayal of how an
audience can corrupt a celebrity. "Auto Focus," an adaptation by
Michael Gerbosi of Robert Graysmith's book "The Murder of Bob
Crane," is about a kid who stays in the picture. The only trouble is
that the picture he stays in is the wrong one; a fatal error. Since
we know the story's conclusion before we go into the theater (it's
based on the true story of the murder of a popular TV personality
allegedly by his best friend), we do not enjoy the suspense of
wondering what will happen next. We have something better. We
watch Greg Kinnear in his most complex role, a dynamite
performance by the way, and we are drawn in by
the incremental steps through which a clean-living alpha male
meets his doom by a failure to resist temptation. While the
majority of stars of stage, screen and TV do not become hooked
on cocaine, or compulsive sex, or alcohol, many do. In that
sense, "Auto Focus" lets us in on a case study of how
once-decent guys can lose their integrity, their families, even their
fortune by hanging out with the wrong people or by taking
audience adulation too much to heart.
Though a bio-pic, "Auto Focus" avoids the deadly
didacticism associated with docu-drama. With music by Angelo
Badalamenti ("Mulholland Drive") to reflect the upbeat feeling that
inhabits the major part of the film, switching to a tense score as
Bob Crane's career goes rapidly downhill, Paul Schrader's picture
punctuates the fragility of the famous while at the same time
indicating how all of Crane's wrong moves were brought upon
himself. Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) believed, like Arthur
Miller's Willy Loman, that all you need to succeed is to be likable,
and considering the success he was enjoying, you can't really
blame him for being oblivious to signs of decay: a moving from his
passion for grapefruit juice straight-up to alcohol; a falling away
from both of his wives and his children; a growing arrogance and
belief that he could say anything at any time and allow a Teflon
protection to ward off rumblings.
We watch Bob Crane, a stunning and exuberant radio
personality, get the job of his life through his agent, Lenny (Ron
Leibman). He becomes the titled Hogan's hero of one of the most
popular TV shows of his time, one that ran from 1965 to 1971,
serving as a precursor, if you will, to comedies like "The
Producers" in that "Hogan's Heroes" made light of Nazi
prisoner-of-war camps. When Crane runs into the nerdy John
Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) in a studio lot (in much the way that
Viktor Taransky gets hustled by Hank in "Simone"), he is
attracted to Carpenter's ingenuity with electronics, particularly
with a new invention called video recording. Becoming buddy-
buddy with Carpenter, he joins this fellow in some hot parties,
attracting the bimbos that are always flattered by attention from
the stars. Soon they're making porno movies highlighting their
games with these women not for sale but just for their
amusement a hobby which breaks up his family when his devoted
wife Anne (Rita Wilson) discovers these extracurricular activities.
A failed marriage does not prevent Crane from an intimate
friendship with Patricia (Maria Bello), an actress in "Hogan's
Heroes," leading to a second marriage, which appears doomed
since Bob cannot break away from his sex compulsions.
"Auto Focus" is blessed with Kristina Boden's sharp editing,
bringing the characters into dazzling closeups to accentuate the
likable blandness of Bob Crane and the scuzziness and, at base,
the loneliness of his friend Lenny who is so dependent on Bob for
bringing in the women who add spice to his constricted life. If hell
hath no fury like a woman scorned, "Auto Focus" does not make
gender distinctions. As Bob becomes determined to straighten
out his life, he is forced to break off his friendship with
Lenny leading to disastrous consequences. This is an important
movie, one that could have you looking at some of the big names
of screen and TV today, wondering whether there is some truth to
the malicious gossip spewed by supermarket tabloids.
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
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