Review: Loitering With Intent

An acting exercise that happened to be caught on film, Loitering With Intent shares little of the wit, warmth, and plain enjoyment found in the late Peter O'Toole's similarly titled autobiography.

Writers-producers Michael Godere and Ivan Martin star as Dominic and Raphael, struggling actors who have had bit parts (a Woody Allen film, a Law and Order episode) here and there but nothing that could catapult them into the big time. Trapped in an "age void" where casting directors don't know what to do with them, they wonder how they'll ever break into the tight circle of the same 5 directors, 10 writers, and 20 actors that seem to be doing everything.

Things look up when they run into a well-connected acquaintance (Natasha Lyonne), whose boss is looking to fund a low-budget film for tax purposes. Dominic offers up an idea he and Raphael have for a Raymond Chandler-like noir - they've got the script nearly done, they lie, it just needs some rewrites. She tells them they have ten days to deliver the script or the offer is gone, so the guys drive up to Dominic's sister Gigi's (Marisa Tomei) rural upstate New York home. Peace and quiet, no distractions, get there and get it done.

Instead of solitude, they're met by nonstop distractions beginning with Ava (Isabelle McNally), Gigi's attractive friend who's working on the garden for an upcoming shoot. Gigi herself shows up soon thereafter, escaping from her relationship problems with longtime boyfriend Wayne (Sam Rockwell). Dominic tries to maintain his focus amidst the fray, but Raphael is all too happy to circle the muse and, most importantly, rekindle his relationship with the neurotic and dysfunctional Gigi.

No one could make the bundle of nerves that is Gigi as endearing as Tomei, whose physical expressiveness reminds you why she was cast as silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand in Richard Attenborough's Chaplin. She and Rockwell elevate the material by simply breathing; they dose the limpid film with spark and class. They easily run circles around their co-stars who, unfortunately, do not possess the same it factor that make Rockwell and Tomei such engaging and commanding presences.

Director Adam Rapp keeps the camera moving, possibly in the hope that the narrative will follow suit. The screenplay is borderline anorexic, to call the conversations dialogue is an act of charity.

Loitering with Intent

Directed by: Adam Rapp

Written by: Michael Godere, Ivan Martin

Starring: Ivan Martin, Michael Godere, Marisa Tomei, Sam Rockwell, Isabelle McNally, Brian Geraghty