THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
``ROOMMATES'' is one of those movies we want to like.
As it unreels, we get almost desperate in our desire to like it.
It's a movie that promotes the work ethic, family values and understanding between the old and the young. Most of all, it is a movie that is steadfastly against slowing down at any age.
We need more movies that have these good intentions. But we also need a better movie. It is only the rarity of ``generation gap'' flicks that prompts us to put up with Rocky Holeczek with as much patience as we do.
Peter Falk, almost unrecognizable behind layers of latex, plays the cantankerous oldster who ages before our very eyes from 75 to 107 while constantly telling everyone off - particularly his tolerant grandson, played with likable patience by D.B. Sweeney.
At the outset, Rocky Holeczek is a 75-year-old baker in Pittsburgh. A Polish immigrant, he's a self-made man who believes there is no excuse for not working. Rocky ``adopts'' his 5-year-old grandson. The grandson grows up to be a successful physician, marries, and becomes a father. Grandpa Rocky is with him all the way.
When grandson Michael goes to med school, Grandpa is his roommate. Sweeney, who seems to have inherited the puffy character roles once played by Beau Bridges, even learns to use Rocky's snoring as a kind of sleep inducement. When Michael woos a wealthy socialite girl (Julianne Moore), Grandpa doesn't approve. She wins him over by playing gin even slower than he does, and winning.
There are several reasons why we don't really get involved. First is the fact that Rocky, as growled by Falk, is so persistently grouchy that we wonder why anyone puts up with him. The character uses ``age'' as an excuse for all his over-the-top bullying. It's sometimes humorous, but more often tedious.
Secondly, the anecdotal nature of the script keeps us jumping all over the years. The scenario skips 10 years at a time as it covers 32 years, from 1963 to 1995. In each case, just as we're about to get interested, we skip 10 years ahead. The whole world, it seems, centers around grandpa and grandson, with the curious effect that everyone else is far in the background.
There are likable scenes, such as when Rocky goes to Michael's wedding and dances the polka with the bride's mom, well played by Ellen Burstyn. She makes much of little, immediately suggesting the character of a snooty socialite who is won over by the old baker. Burstyn deserves much larger roles.
Moore, who plays the bride, can't do much with her perfunctory assignment. There is little here to suggest that she is, on the basis of her amazing performance in the recent ``Vanya on 42nd Street,'' one of the more promising new film actresses. She should inherit the roles once given to Meryl Streep, if she can manage to avoid roles like these.
Behind all that latex, Falk works hard. He's a fine, distinctive actor who manages, somehow, to let us see that Rocky never loses his dignity. Behind it all, though, you get the idea that Peter Falk is wanting to yell ``Hey, I'm back here. It's really Peter Falk, TV's Columbo, somewhere behind all this makeup.''
With sentimental music by one of the film industry's finest composers, Elmer Bernstein, the film pushes all the appropriate buttons to become a tearjerker. We see all director Peter Yates' manipulations coming at least 15 minutes ahead.
Only if you're in the mood to be manipulated in this particularly ``old-fashioned'' way will you be able to buy all the emotional baloney you're served. MEMO: Printed version of this review dropped the last two lines.
Mal's rating: two and a half stars
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Peter Falk is great grandfather to little Courtney Chase in the film
"Roommates."
by CNB