“Marci X” (Paramount Pictures)
Lisa Kudrow has become a familiar name to movie audiences across the country through her TV portrayal of Phoebe on “Friends.” She is a much-loved character but being loved from TV and being able to make a career in the movies do not always go hand in hand. Her latest film “Marci X” proves this point – big time!
Kudrow plays Marci Feld, a Jewish princess who tries to prove to Daddy (Richard Benjamin) that she can take care of his problems when he is attacked for owning a rap label. A conservative Senator named Spinkle (Christine Baranski) is after him because one of the artists on this label, Dr. S (Damon Wayans) uses lyrics she considers to be vulgar and profane.
Ben Feld (Benjamin) gets so upset by all this he has a heart attack. So it is up to his only child Marci to straighten things out. She goes straight to see Dr. S and catches him in the middle of a concert. She parades out on stage and manages to keep from being booed off the stage by going into a rap song herself.
Later Marci and Dr. S hook up at one of his clubs and there is a mutual attraction. But there is still the problem of Senator Spinkle. She is dead set in her goals to close down this label and ruin Ben Feld.
There is the possibility of satire in all this and with the right person writing the script and the right person directing the action there might have been some humor. But Richard Benjamin is the director and he does not use a light touch on anything. Plus the cast just doesn’t know how to pull out the laughs. It ends up being a tedious embarrassment from start to finish with only Baranski giving any spark to the film.
The movie is rated R for profanity and sexual situations.
Lisa Kudrow had better hope they spin off “Phoebe” into a new TV series. This film proves her “Phoebe” transference to the big screen is not a receptive arena for her talents. She has the same mannerisms and quirks in this role as she does on TV and they just don’t work.
Wayans is a talented comic but roles like this are a waste of his talent and our time. At least he has the good sense to look embarrassed in the role.
The movie paints with a wide brush. All conservatives are dumb, and all liberals are right. The racial issues, well don’t even go there.
“Marci X” is a mess of a movie that won’t even be fun on video. Let “X” mark the spot as a movie to avoid.
I scored “Marci X” a “Friends-less” 3 out of 10.
