SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS / (1998) **1/2
"Slums of Beverly Hills" portrays the lives of a poor, dysfunctional Beverly Hills family that nobody in the majority of an audience will care about. In his mid-sixties, wifeless father Murray (Alan Arkin), moves his family from apartment to apartment escaping rent but staying in the Bevery Hills school district for the high standard educational curriculum. His high school son Elliot (Kevin Corrigan), receptive preteen Rickey (Eli Marienthal), and sexually blossoming daughter Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) are in the habit of being awoke early in the morning to move into another low class living space before rental payment is due.
Tamara Jenkin's wacky comedy introduces this family inventively and comically; at first the characters appear to be original and interesting. Murray and his children create the kind of dysfunction family in the tradition of "American Beauty." These characters are mawkish, entertaining and well cast, a potentially effective combination within a farce. Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, and Marisa Tomei perform with curiosity and sarcasm, building on a story that is inspiring.
I enjoyed the soundtrack of "Slums of Beverly Hills" a great deal; the title theme is stimulating and colorful, it conjoins the film's humorous tones. Some of the scenes also produce laughs, but the comic style is drowned in the serious themes dealing with drug use, aging, pot-merchandising, and adolescent confusion. Still, I liked the style of comedy here, probably intended to franchise a sitcom.
Even though "Slums of Beverly Hills" contains elements of an energetic comic expedition, its characters seem to wander from scene to scene, drifting from one outrageous situation into another with little purpose or motive. The audience has a hard time concerning themselves with such characters simply because the movie hinges them on puppet strings and glides them throughout the uncanny story. The only true revealing variable here is Vivian's sexual exploration, which causes more of a feeling of audacity than involvement. The material in "Slums of Beverly Hills" belongs in an inconclusive television sitcom, not in a feature full length motion picture that gives birth to more questions than answers.
"Slums of Beverly Hills" portrays the lives of a poor, dysfunctional Beverly Hills family that nobody in the majority of an audience will care about. In his mid-sixties, wifeless father Murray (Alan Arkin), moves his family from apartment to apartment escaping rent but staying in the Bevery Hills school district for the high standard educational curriculum. His high school son Elliot (Kevin Corrigan), receptive preteen Rickey (Eli Marienthal), and sexually blossoming daughter Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) are in the habit of being awoke early in the morning to move into another low class living space before rental payment is due.
Tamara Jenkin's wacky comedy introduces this family inventively and comically; at first the characters appear to be original and interesting. Murray and his children create the kind of dysfunction family in the tradition of "American Beauty." These characters are mawkish, entertaining and well cast, a potentially effective combination within a farce. Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, and Marisa Tomei perform with curiosity and sarcasm, building on a story that is inspiring.
I enjoyed the soundtrack of "Slums of Beverly Hills" a great deal; the title theme is stimulating and colorful, it conjoins the film's humorous tones. Some of the scenes also produce laughs, but the comic style is drowned in the serious themes dealing with drug use, aging, pot-merchandising, and adolescent confusion. Still, I liked the style of comedy here, probably intended to franchise a sitcom.
Even though "Slums of Beverly Hills" contains elements of an energetic comic expedition, its characters seem to wander from scene to scene, drifting from one outrageous situation into another with little purpose or motive. The audience has a hard time concerning themselves with such characters simply because the movie hinges them on puppet strings and glides them throughout the uncanny story. The only true revealing variable here is Vivian's sexual exploration, which causes more of a feeling of audacity than involvement. The material in "Slums of Beverly Hills" belongs in an inconclusive television sitcom, not in a feature full length motion picture that gives birth to more questions than answers.