THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9406300587
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Forget Lon Chaney. Think Robert Maxwell. Or better yet, think Sony, Paramount and Viacom.
Mike Nichols' urbane and witty ``Wolf,'' starring the ever-feral Jack Nicholson, is a must-see for literary filmgoers, especially those in primal shock over the takeover of the genteel publishing business by media conglomerates. Nichols and his writing company - poet/novelist Jim Harrison, screenwriter Wesley Strick and former partner Elaine May - take so many delicious jabs at the new sold-out New York publishing scene that I was beside myself with wolfish glee.
As mild-mannered, tasteful Will Randall, a senior editor with 30 years' experience, Nicholson represents the ``last civilized man.'' Randall quotes John Donne, treats his authors as human beings and never ``stints on review copies.'' To survive in the new market-driven publishing world in which art is dead and an appearance on ``Oprah'' guarantees a best seller, Randall must metamorphosize - into an animal, like the rest of them, of course.
Christopher Plummer is as slick as snake oil as the ``ordinary billionaire'' who heads the corporate takeover of Randall's publishing house, and James Spader is both smarmy and hilarious as the marketing genius who thrives on ``heat and gossip.''
Metaphor, myth, moral, metamorphosis and mirth - ``Wolf'' has it all.
- ANN G. SJOERDSMA by CNB