WHODUNIT AND WHYDOIT

Uzo Aduba, who I first saw as one of the more interesting convicts in Orange is the New Black, now is on the right side of the law in The Residence and (you should excuse the expression) she steals the show.

I can think of a dozen actors I might have thought to cast in this primary role, and I would have been wrong all twelve times. Ms. Aduba is perfect, and the good news? She is not the only reason to watch this Netflix series.

The unusually large acting ensemble is top drawer. I feel compelled to single out Randall Park, who was heretofore unknown to me, as a perfect foil for Ms. Aduba, Isiah Whitlock Jr. is wonderful as the DC police chief and it would be remiss of me not to single out Jason Lee who, in one of the later episodes, performs one of the most spectacular monologues I can remember.

Right up there with the casting are the production values (sets, camera work, direction), and The White House setting as the locale for this murder mystery is terrific.

The pace of the show lags at times but making up for that is a fair share of snappy dialogue throughout and a bit of a spoof of a senate subcommittee hearing, featuring former Senator Al Franken, and a Marjorie Taylor Green prototype, nicely played by Eliza Coupe.

The Residence comes from the production entity of Shondaland and specifically from Paul William Davies, who also wrote multiple episodes of that company’s Scandal, a spiffy Network series starring the super sensual Kerry Washington.

The equally sensual Nicole Kidman stars in Holland for Amazon Prime and is, as usual, on her game. The production is first rate, and it turns out there really is a town named Holland. (Who knew?)

Kudos to the production designer for bringing Michigan’s tulip season to our TV screens for more than just the town’s population of thirty-four thousand to enjoy. Unfortunately, that… and Ms. Kidman… is sorta all there is on the plus side for this movie. The script is full of holes, the direction is sub-standard, and the casting illustrates the filmmaker’s lack of attention to detail which the screenplay pre-ordained.

I bought the sort of pedestrian union between Ms. Kidman and Matthew Macfadyen (the sycophantic son-in-law in Succession), but Gael Garcia Bernal as Ms. Kidman’s illicit lover was, for me, a “no sale.”

You may remember Mr. Bernal as the very interesting lead in the even more interesting TV series, Mozart in the Jungle. His acting chops are not in question, nor is his talent. This is not really about talent or past credits but more a matter of chemistry. As talented as Kidman and Bernal may be, there is ZERO chemistry between them. The movie, even if the script were a whole lot better, would always have an uphill climb trying to recover from that simple fact.

I could… and for some time in an earlier draft of this piece did… go on and on (with apologies to Editor, Debra Goodstone) about casting and chemistry and what goes on … or in this case doesn’t … between two on-screen lovers. In my career in Hollywood, I spent an inordinate number of days… months sometimes… trying to match actors and actresses… looking for the right Cagney for Lacey (there were two before Sharon Gless came on board). I have experienced the pain of replacing the lead in a successful pilot for a network TV series, have held up production on a fully cast (save for the lead) in another major Network TV series, fired the right actor for the wrong reason to the detriment of the movie.

A filmmaker fails to find the right actor/actors with the right chemistry at their peril. Better to take that very good script and hold on to it until the right casting can be found. Casting is all important. Think about all the terrible productions of Hamlet there have been. Trust me, there is very little wrong with the play.

That brings me to what is also very wrong with Holland. The script is of a tried-and-true design out of the Gaslight, Midnight Lace idiom. While it draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion and Rebecca, it falls short because the plot devices are overly simplistic and contrived.

Holland is what I would call a lazy movie. The filmmakers had a commitment from Nicole Kidman and a cute idea about filming in an obscure, tulip laden town in Michigan. So far so good, but that is when it all went south. Little to no attention to detail in the script or in the casting followed. Nor was there enough attention to the classics in the genre that makes this sort of film work.

Point made? L-A-Z-Y. Nice tulips though.

 

Barney Rosenzweig