TWO ROADS: BRIGHT ANGEL, SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
One of the little-seen movies of 1988 was a charmer called MYSTIC PIZZA. It was about three young women - two of them sisters, the other their best friend - living in Mystic, Connecticut, working at the pizza place of the title, and struggling with life and men. Annabeth Gish and Julia Roberts played the sisters, and Lili Taylor played the best friend. While Gish put her acting mostly on hold to go to college, Roberts and Taylor have pursued their careers. But as Michael Fields' BRIGHT ANGEL, starring Taylor, and Joseph Ruben's SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY, starring Roberts, demonstrate, they've taken two wildly different paths.
After MYSTIC PIZZA, Taylor took on two supporting roles, one a major one in Cameron Crowe's SAY ANYTHING (as John Cusack's best friend), the other a fairly brief appearance in Oliver Stone's BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (as the widow of a soldier Tom Cruise accidently killed). Some might see this as Hollywood's not recognizing talent when they see it; I see it as Taylor trying to choose interesting movies and parts, rather than be pigeon-holed. Though it has flaws, BRIGHT ANGEL is a case in point.
Dermot Mulroney is George, a young man living in Montana with his father Jack (Sam Shepard). They're fond of one another, probably, but there's definitely an emotional distance between them (even in the first activity we see them at - hunting - we sense that). George feels even more of a distance when Jack catches his wife Aileen (Valerie Perrine) with another man (Will Patton), and throws her out of the house. Obviously, George still loves his dad, but he misses his mom. So when he sees his best friend Claude (Benjamin Bratt) is going to drive down to Casper, Wyoming to drop off Lucy (Taylor), George decides to go with them. After all, his Aunt Judy (Mary Kay Place) is down there, and she might have seen her mom.
Lucy has her own agenda. She's going to Casper to try and pay a man named Bob (Bill Pullman) to keep him from testifying against her brother, so she can get him out of jail. Claude is going along for the ride partly because his father is ordering him to, partly because he's horny for her. George is attracted to her as well, but not as obnoxious (when Claude sees the two of them together, like all horny kids, he covers it up by being more obnoxious), so when he suggests going to Casper alone, she accepts. They find Bob, and make arrangements for her to give him the cash she has. But Bob's friend Art (Burt Young) has other plans.
Latest Articles