Susan Granger’s review of “The Humbling” (Millennium Entertainment)
Sometimes two artists work on the same idea at the same time: one succeeds, the other fails.
When Barry Levinson was adapting Philip Roth’s 2009 penultimate novel about the angst of an aging actor, I suspect he had no idea Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was making “Birdman.”
But he was. And Michael Keaton’s performance will be remembered, while Al Pacino’s probably will not.
Quoting Oscar Levant’s observation, “There’s a thin line between genius and insanity,” Pacino plays 67 year-old Simon Axler, who loses his grip on reality during a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” deliberately taking a face-first dive into the orchestra pit.
Recuperating at a psychiatric hospital, he’s approached by another patient, Sybil (Nina Arianda), who caught her wealthy husband is sexually abusing their young daughter. Having seen Simon play a murderer on-screen, she wants to hire Simon to kill him.
When Simon’s released, he retreats to find solace at his bucolic Connecticut home. But the peace-of-mind he’s looking for is shattered by the sudden appearance of Pegeen (Greta Gerwig), the thirty-something daughter of old friends (Dianne Wiest, Dan Hedaya), along with persistent Sybil.
Though Pegeen claims to be a lesbian, she flirts outrageously with Simon, winding up in bed with him, much to the chagrin of two of her former lovers (Kyra Sedgwick, Billy Porter), who are stalking her, and bewilderment of Simon’s loyal housekeeper (Mary Louise Wilson).
Al Pacino is the embodiment of a despairing, self-absorbed performer who cannot separate art from life, a concept that’s amplified by meetings with his agent (Charles Grodin) and Skype sessions with his psychiatrist (Dylan Baker).
Shot in 20 days in and around Barry Levinson’s Fairfield County estate, it’s unevenly scripted by Buck Henry (“The Graduate”) and Michal Zebede and indulgently directed by Levinson.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Humbling” is an awkwardly sexist, tragi-comedic 3, serving – at best – as eccentric Pacino’s inventively off-beat master class in acting.
