Trailer: Special
Here’s another low-budget, under the radar film that’s worth checking out. Michael Rapaport (Mighty Aphrodite) plays Les, a parking enforcement officer who is thoroughly average in every respect. He’s a nice guy, but not very smart. When he enrolls in a testing program for a new antidepressant, the drug unlocks super powers he never knew he had…or does it? Armed with a belief he can read minds, walk through walls and turn himself invisible, Les embarks on a new career as a superhero.
The film has actually been kicking around since 2005 and those who have seen The Wackness might be surprised to see a younger, chubbier looking Josh Peck as one of Les’ friends. Because of its low budget origins, Special is a little rough around the edges, but it’s at turns funny and sad and it grows on you after a while.
It opens in New York and LA on November 19. My reviews are starting to pile up, but I’ll try to have one for you between now and then.
Filed under: Trailers
Tags: Michael Rapaport, Special
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Flowers from Algernon meets Hancock? If that’s not what this film is, I call dibs on that pitch line.
hah!! close, but no cigar. You have to make that movie now though. Seriously.
i think this film got a uk release whenever…
mental note..look up Flowers from Algernon
glim…
FFA = CHARLY, the 1968 movie that won CLIFF ROBERTSON the BEST ACTOR Oscar…
He’s a nice guy, but not very smart.
Ah, the only type of roll that Rapaport is ever credible at. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a less talented actor.
Hmm, Rapaport. Where have you been? I’m there.
This really looks like something up my alley. It looks absurd with a lot of imagination.
And speaking about the Wackness, am I the only one that didn’t know Peck was a Nickelodeon kid’s star? Admittedly, I haven’t watched the network since Clarissa was explaining it all, but it seemed really odd to me to hear that.
I screwed up - “Flowers FOR Algernon”.
That’s a tiny little mistake that’s hardly even noteworthy.
We like you anyway, jeff…
He’s a nice guy, but not very smart.
Ah, the only type of roll that Rapaport is ever credible at. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a less talented actor.
Rappaport does have that likeability thing in spades. I’ve always liked him, sometimes despite myself. This looks interesting. Not sure I’ve ever seen him in a bona fide lead role.
He gets much mileage out of his likeability factor in this. He’s a complete dope, but you can’t help but root for him.
And Glimmer, you’re right I think. It played in the UK and I think Spain as well. It played at Sundance in ‘06 but obviously didn’t make a big enough splash to get snapped up. It’s not a big film, but I think it has cult status potential.
Michael, it was only after The Wackness I discovered Josh Peck already had a career. I guess Im just not Nickelodeon’s target audience.
Watch him on “Drake and Josh,” and then watch him in “The Wackness,” its quite awesome to see how far he has come, and to see all the weight he lost.
Some reviewers hated him in Wackness, but I thought he was pretty effective. I don’t know if he’s capable of playing other characters, but more than a few actors have made a career with one impersonation.
thanks for the ffa info m. and thanks to jeff for refing it !!!! :)
craig… i didn’t know of josh’s preveious life until read an interview with him. (and nick a reason he mentioned for losing weight was he didn’t want to be limited as the type of roles he’d be up for…)
hmm i haven’t seen one second of either of his nickelodeon shows but you’s think ‘the wackiness’ would appeal to i guess the slighly older kids that used to watch his show….or maybe they all grew and veered towards the more raunchy ’superbad’
hmm and aside from ‘frozen river’’s critical accalim has sony classics broke anything open this year ???
oh well we’ll see what sony’s reverse midas touch will bring to ‘the class’ in dec. hang on…
craig…are thinking of that m cera guy ??? *ha ha*
he and josh are sort of the same age bracket ???
oh well ,still it’s better than playing cop 10 trimes in a row ! :)
I don’t know how they did at the box office, but SPC also had Baghead, Band’s Visit, Standard Operating Procedure and I Served the King of England.
Rachel Getting Married just opened in NY and LA. Upcoming they’ve got Synecdoche New York, The Class and Waltz with Bashir.
I really didn’t care for this movie at all. I thought Rappaport was good, but the entire thing had a very somber atmosphere that never really seemed to gel with the premise. Mid-way through, there is a major shift in tone, again, this time to more of a thriller, and I think it finds a little more footing there. Unless this thing has been recut for American audiences (I assume the version I saw was the one released in Europe and on the festival circuit), the movie felt overcut and way too short, going maybe 75 minutes before the credits.
The trailer gave me a lot of promise, but the movie never really clicked for me.
Interesting. I was unsure about it when it first started, but it grew on me. I think it was the somber tone you didn’t like that won me over.
Some of its flaws I attribute to its low budget, but maybe that’s being too generous.