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Mister Lonely

Michael Jackson meets Marilyn Monroe...things go downhill from there

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
May 1, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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A Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton) in Paris and she convinces him to come with her to a commune in the Scottish Highlands populated entirely by celebrity impersonators—including her husband “Charlie Chaplin” (Denis Lavant), their daughter “Shirley Temple” (Esme Creed-Miles) and others ranging from Pope John Paul II (James Fox) to Madonna (Melita Morgan).

Big question: Can a movie about professional impersonators actually uncover the humanity beneath the facades, especially when it’s directed by “Kids” screenwriter and renegade indie auteur Harmony Korine?

Skip it: Korine’s intriguing premise is just a front for a maddeningly undisciplined meditation on loneliness that loses steam whenever it abruptly switches to a non-sequitur subplot involving skydiving nuns in Latin America. The film is more successful with the way each character mirrors the star they’re impersonating—Jackson is sensitive, Monroe is vulnerable, Chaplin is a letch—and the witty use of Jackson’s song titles (including “Beat It” and “Thriller”) as chapter headings. But Korine’s strengths lie in crafting individual scenes, not in shaping a coherent whole.

Catch it: At least Morton’s take on Marilyn is more credible than Lindsay Lohan’s recent New York Magazine cover shoot.

Bottom line: Although “Mister Lonely” is brighter and more accessible than his past work, Korine’s interest in absurd, unusual and downright weird human behavior feels even more self-indulgent when stretched to a nearly two hour running time. Either you respect the filmmaker’s mischievous streak, or you’d rather steer clear of any film that features close-ups of toe-nails being cut and lingering shots of the feeblest residents in a nursing home.

Bonus: “Mister Lonely” marks a reunion for Fox and Anita Pallenberg (who plays the Queen Elizabeth II impersonator)—they’re paired as on screen lovers just as they were in the 1970 cult classic “Performance.”

[“Mister Lonely” is also available through “IFC In Theaters,” a video on demand service from select cable providers and DirecTV.]