When I realized I would be reviewing two Richard Gere movies in one month, I thought statistics alone would ensure that at least one of them might be good. I was mistaken. Much like its title, Norman is an overlong digression into ideas that seem superficially cute but lack any substance to warrant their expression. Israeli writer/director Joseph Cedar may well have had a purpose in mind when he conceived this tale of a nebbishy New York con artist with a heart of gold, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what it was.
Gere’s character, Norman Oppenheimer, remains something of an enigma throughout the film — though not enigmatic in any sense of that term that would suggest something interesting. The story is rooted in its protagonist’s occupation, which even the character struggles to define when questioned. Norman seems to be driven by a desire for recognition, forcibly insinuating himself into the spheres of powerful New York elites through a combination of fraud and some light stalking, but his goals in doing so are never elucidated. Instead, we’re left to ponder the motivations of a quasi-homeless swindler who seems capable of little more than sowing the seeds of chaos and dissent. While I guess that may sound appealing to some, I’ll have to admit that the allure was lost on me.
Beyond the problems inherent to a protagonist of questionable relatability, Cedar’s film is hamstrung by stylistic missteps too jarring to be overlooked. A painfully boring second act is punctuated by a truly bizarre fantasy sequence full of floating heads and business cards and a recurring motif of computer-spliced split-screen phone calls that place characters from different locations into the same frame — attempts to create visual engagement that feel distinctly ill-suited to the film’s tone and atmosphere. Rather than pictorially exploring his characters’ uniquely Jewish perspective on New York, Cedar falls prey to regressive visual stereotypes and tropes worn thinner than Norman’s shoe soles.
Cedar’s directorial shortcomings are particularly unfortunate in light of the dynamic supporting performances delivered by Steve Buscemi as Norman’s beleaguered rabbi and Lior Ashkenazi as the embattled prime minister. Even Gere’s overzealous Woody Allen impersonation might have been palatable had it been reined in more assiduously. But the script drifts aimlessly before arriving at a climax that feels like a foregone conclusion, landing with a dull thud of meaninglessness in the film’s final moments.
As a narrative, Norman fails to deliver any significant catharsis, and as a character study, it somehow manages to avoid any depth of characterization. There might have been a story here if Cedar had been prescient enough to recognize that his protagonist’s inner drama was infinitely more interesting than the contrived geopolitical mishegas he chose to focus on — but as a film, Norman needs a fixer of a higher caliber than its title character. Rated R for some language. Now Playing at Grail Moviehouse
Totally agree on this one. Outside of the great acting in this (Im a bigger Gere fan since he got a lot older, THE HOAX being his best) it is so boring. A nebbish “fixer” helps a deputy in the Israeli government through a lot of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I almost walked out but since it was a free screening I felt obliged to stay and if I didn’t I would not have had that huge laugh from the very last shot. A camera pulls in and frames a sign that reminded me of a great episode of CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM.
THE DINNER was far far better, I think I’m the only person on the planet that really liked that one.