{"id":2405,"date":"2010-09-14T13:42:14","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T13:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2015-03-30T13:07:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T13:07:35","slug":"tiff-sappy-fable-about-a-tough-guy-and-his-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=2405","title":{"rendered":"TIFF FILM REVIEW: Mickey Rourke in ‘Passion Play’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Megan Fox plays Mickey Rourke’s feathery angel in Mitch Glazer’s ‘Passion Play’<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2013 Screenwriter Mitch Glazer\u2019s first directorial effort, \u201cPassion Play\u201d starring Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox is a sentimental noir fable aimed at movie buffs with a soft spot for tough guys with tender hearts.<\/p>\n

Rourke in \u201cThe Wrestler\u201d mode plays a washed-up horn player at odds with a buttoned-down but very dangerous hoodlum named Happy Shannon played by Bill Murray at his most deadpan. Megan Fox is the angel flying too close to the ground who comes between them.<\/p>\n

If the degree of laughter at the wrong moments and the number of walkouts at the Toronto International Film Festival are any indication, the film will appeal only to the most fondly indulgent.<\/p>\n

Fans of the genre will know where the film is going the minute Nate (Rourke) is driven to a remote place next to a river by a bad man with a gun to be punished for sleeping with the boss\u2019 wife.<\/p>\n

A red-tail hawk fills the screen and bullets fly but they hit the bad guy. Nate staggers through the brush and stumbles upon a carnival run by flamboyant carny boss Sam Adamo (Rhys Ifans in full voice).<\/p>\n

There, he meets a beautiful young woman named Annie (Fox) whose abundant charms extend to a genuine pair of wings. At this point, those who don\u2019t get it will likely begin to snigger, as many did in the press and industry audience at the Toronto.<\/p>\n

Smitten instantly, Nate frees Annie from Adamo\u2019s exploitive clutches but no sooner are they back in the city than he\u2019s trying to make a deal with Happy Shannon over rights to Annie\u2019s potential income as a gorgeous woman with wings.<\/p>\n

The inevitable falling out leads to a tussle over the woman and along the way Rourke gets to mime an extraordinarily unconvincing scene of Nate\u2019s trumpet playing, and Fox disrobes attractively.<\/p>\n

Rourke\u2019s rumpled hard-man vulnerability is part of his charm and fans will enjoy his work, as will those who enjoy Murray\u2019s ineffably cool line readings. Fox is persuasively shy and hurt, using a soft and whispery voice.<\/p>\n

Best of all, there is a terrific song soundtrack assembled by music supervisor Randall Poster including tracks by Little Jimmy Scott, Solomon Burke, Allen Tousaint, and Billy Swan\u2019s marvelous slow version of the Elvis classic \u201cDon\u2019t Be Cruel\u201d heard in full.<\/p>\n

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Sales: Sierra Pictures; Production company: Annapurna Productions;\u00a0Cast: Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, Rhys Ifans; Director, screenwriter: Mitch Glazer; Producers: Daniel Dubiecki, Megan Ellison; Director of photography: Christopher Doyle; Production designer: Waldermar Kalinowski; Music: Dickon Hinchliffe; Costume designer: Lisa Jensen Nye; Editor: Billy Weber; No rating, 91 minutes.<\/p>\n

This review appears in The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett TORONTO \u2013 Screenwriter Mitch Glazer\u2019s first directorial effort, \u201cPassion Play\u201d starring Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox is a sentimental noir fable aimed at movie buffs with a soft spot for tough guys with tender hearts. Rourke in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,1770],"tags":[1317,1319,854,878,1318,1012,1192],"class_list":["post-2405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-reviews","category-tiff-toronto-international-film-festival","tag-bill-murray","tag-billy-swan","tag-megan-fox","tag-mickey-rourke","tag-mitch-glazer","tag-rhys-ifans","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6622,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions\/6622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}