Wallace Shawn

  • Simon (1980)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2022) In Simon, we’ve got a dark comedy imagining what would happen if a human was brainwashed into believing that he’s an alien with a message for humanity. The weird humour of the film is clearly explained in its terrific few minutes, during which it’s explained that just about everything of significance in 1960s–1970s America happened at the whim of a handful of incredibly smart scientists growing increasingly bored and unethical in their experiments. That’s an excellent premise and in fact, it’s almost too good for Simon’s own good: Once past the great first ten minutes, the film sinks back into a plot that’s nowhere near as interesting as the hilariously demented scientists running large-scale social experiments on an unsuspecting population. In comparison, the story of the brainwashed protagonist taking on the small annoyances of life because he’s convinced that he’s from a superior civilization almost falls flat. The ugly shooting style, very close to found-footage documentary, certainly doesn’t help: using the depressing palette of 1970s cinema does Simon no favours and actually runs against the film’s more uplifting intentions. An interesting cast (Alan Arkin, Wallace Shawn, Madeline Kahn) can’t do much. As a consequence of starting with a premise better than its plot, Simon also suffers from constant lulls and weak moments: there isn’t enough plot to sustain the film, nor enough wit or imagination to get it purring throughout. It ends almost because it has to, without much of a climax. Frankly, rewind Simon to the end of its opening minutes and remake the rest—it’s bound to be a more interesting film than what follows.

  • The Princess Bride (1987)

    The Princess Bride (1987)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second viewing, On DVD, March 2017) Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t looking forward to revisiting The Princess Bride: I had such good memories of the film that I feared seeing it again would damage the magic. Fortunately, I shouldn’t have worried: The good parts of The Princess Bride are still as good today, and I had managed to forget much of the less-quoted second half of the film. Penned by William Goldman (from his own equally hilarious novel), the script manages to be self-aware, witty, clever and warm at once—the pedestrian direction is low on flashy moments, but clearly doesn’t get in the way of the script. It helps that the actors are almost all perfect for their role: André the Giant may not be a gifted thespian, but he’s just right for his character, and the same goes for most of the cast. Cary Elwes is a B-grade actor at best, but he’s fantastic here as the hero. Robin Wright Penn has the advantage of perfectly incarnating how a princess should look and behave, while Wallace Shawn remains forever linked to his distinctive role as Vizzini. If anything, The Princess Bride is even funnier now that the codes and tropes of fantasy and fairy tales have been widely internalized, and as Hollywood is still churning out remakes of known fairy-tales into unremarkable fantasy epics. It’s a light and funny film, but it’s certainly not simple-minded or content with superficiality. It’s still great even now. See it again with a member of a younger generation to pass the fun along.