Where is MST3K when you need it? "Picnic" had me resurrecting this late 80s fad: Conflicted belle shirks marrying for money for a deeper passion - NOT! Irrestible 20-something drops out of college and out of his boxcar into the roiling undercurrents of a... picnic - NOT! Gracefully aging spinster displays resilience and inner strength grappling with the gender roles of her day - TRIPLE NOT!
Holden's bluster and swagger had me wanting a film noir ending of some sort. He looks ruggedly hot as usual, but nowhere near the age he's supposed to be. Bogie could have been cast to similar effect.
Novak expressionlessly drones about being tired of being looked at, only to throw over the local nice guy for a booty call with a sexy dancer she has known for all of six hours - the sort of charmer with lines like "you asked for it".
She's egged on in her non-mutual romance by her social-climbing mother, who in countering Novak's objection that she is only nineteen, displays a knack for non-linear mathematics: "Next year you'll be 20, then 21, and then...40!"
The movie never succeeds in making us care for the main characters. There is an attempt at exploring Holden's inner conflict, but in the balance of things, he's more creepy than compelling, while Novak wins the Oscar for "Best Blank Expression" in most scenes. But Russell's "spinster school marm" performance is the nadir of the whole affair. Acting with all the poise of a tipsy Old West bar maid, she literally rips Holden's shirt off in public then (also literally) throws herself at a long-time boyfriend the next morning. And when, implausibly, he goes through with the ceremony, she sticks her tongue out at the school on the way by.
The only likable character is the ditched boyfriend. What is so repellent to Novak's character? He's cute, nice, rich and until the picnic, has even settled for kissing when they park. More to the point, he is going out with her against his father's wishes and stands up to the old man about it.
At least I came away with some ideas for my next picnic, like the octogenarian balloon blowing contest. I'll have to watch that scene again, it was an emotional high point.
Holden's bluster and swagger had me wanting a film noir ending of some sort. He looks ruggedly hot as usual, but nowhere near the age he's supposed to be. Bogie could have been cast to similar effect.
Novak expressionlessly drones about being tired of being looked at, only to throw over the local nice guy for a booty call with a sexy dancer she has known for all of six hours - the sort of charmer with lines like "you asked for it".
She's egged on in her non-mutual romance by her social-climbing mother, who in countering Novak's objection that she is only nineteen, displays a knack for non-linear mathematics: "Next year you'll be 20, then 21, and then...40!"
The movie never succeeds in making us care for the main characters. There is an attempt at exploring Holden's inner conflict, but in the balance of things, he's more creepy than compelling, while Novak wins the Oscar for "Best Blank Expression" in most scenes. But Russell's "spinster school marm" performance is the nadir of the whole affair. Acting with all the poise of a tipsy Old West bar maid, she literally rips Holden's shirt off in public then (also literally) throws herself at a long-time boyfriend the next morning. And when, implausibly, he goes through with the ceremony, she sticks her tongue out at the school on the way by.
The only likable character is the ditched boyfriend. What is so repellent to Novak's character? He's cute, nice, rich and until the picnic, has even settled for kissing when they park. More to the point, he is going out with her against his father's wishes and stands up to the old man about it.
At least I came away with some ideas for my next picnic, like the octogenarian balloon blowing contest. I'll have to watch that scene again, it was an emotional high point.