Verdict: Unhappy is the head that wears the crown in this "400 Blows" wannabe.
Details: Starring Noah Fleiss and Val Kilmer. Directed by Frank Whaley. Rated R for language. 1 hour, 30 minutes.
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Review: Actor-turned-filmmaker Frank Whaley must feel a special affinity for Francois Truffaut's "The 400 Blows." His feature debut,
"Joe the King," could be called "The 401 Blows." Or, given that it's not half as good as the Truffaut classic, "The 150 Blows."
The script, which won Whaley a prize at the Sundance Film Festival, is reportedly semiautobiographical. Fourteen-year-old Joe
(Noah Fleiss) is a disaffected, neglected and ultimately rebellious adolescent who, underneath it all, is actually a pretty good kid
stuck in terrible circumstances. He shares living quarters — you can't call it a home — with his alcoholic, ill-tempered father (Val
Kilmer) and his well-meaning but overwhelmed mother (Karen Young).
Left on his own, Joe gets into trouble at school — Camryn Manheim is a mean teacher, Ethan Hawke an ineffectual one — and
basically supports the family by washing dishes at a greasy spoon. The only control he has over his life comes through
committing needless petty crimes and mouthing off at just about anyone he pleases. But as the pressures on him increase, so
does his anti-social behavior. He finally crosses the line when he tries to steal enough money to replace his mother's beloved
record collection, smashed by his dad while in a drunken rage.
Young Fleiss gives a good enough performance in the central role, and it's amusing to watch Kilmer and Hawke go grungy in
their bids for independent-film respectability (Kilmer sports a beer belly, Hawke scraggly facial hair). Further, the dank 1970s
setting is evoked without any self-conscious touches of nostalgia or camp.
But the movie overall strikes one note — a blend of blighted poignancy and stark injustice — and stays there. It's not that you don't care about Joe; you just get tired of caring about Joe as
things go from bad to worse.
"Joe the King" is an affecting movie, but it's also a numbing one. Even downers need some downtime — a slight change of pace,
a touch of self-aware humor. Devoid of the merest glimmer of hope, "Joe the King" wears its royal mantle of suffering a little
too proudly.
— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service
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Joe the King
