The Beaver

“Jodie Foster’s ‘Beaver’ Finally Opens”

Let’s pretend for a moment that Mel Gibson never had a real-life mental breakdown. That he’s not violent toward women. That he’s still the biggest movie star on the planet. And that the public is still unaware of the anti-semitism of Gibson. Pretend that Jodie Foster’s latest film “The Beaver”, which stars Mel Gibson, is being released during Gibson’s most successful period among films like “Maverick”, “Braveheart” and “What Women Want”.

Now, imagine how a film like “The Beaver” would be received in that world. A film in which Gibson plays a family man so depressed with his life that he can only communicate with people through a beaver hand-puppet he found in a trash bin. And if you’re wondering why this role wasn’t given to Jim Carrey, it’s because “The Beaver” is definitely not a comedy. The only laughs generated by this film (mostly embarrassed snickers) are from people laughing at it, not with it.

So, in a world where Mel Gibson is still a much-loved movie star, “The Beaver” is one of those movies that could actually be considered a career-killer reminiscent of things like Sylvester Stallone’s “Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot”.

The only explanation I can think of for any of the positive reviews I’ve read of “The Beaver” is that Gibson’s dramatic performance in the film is an eerie mirror of his personal life. We almost needed to know all that we’ve learned about his real life in order to truly appreciate the film that Jodie Foster has given us. At one point I actually started to formulate a theory that all of Gibson’s recent tabloid headlines might have been a calculated act designed to promote this film.

That’s because the marketing campaign is so desperate to make this film work that they’ve even given us a trailer that includes the final scene, a beautiful father-son reconciliation moment, in its entirety! In the trailer!!! WTF?

Foster seems to want to use her film to say something about mental illness. But her direction, and Gibson’s performance is far less daring than what Martin Scorsese did with his Rupert Pupkin character played by Robert DeNiro in “The King Of Comedy”. Given Foster’s past association with Scorsese, she should have known she was coming up short.

DVD Double Feature:

Foster and Gibson should have sat down at watched the DVD of Richard Attenborough’s classic 1978 horror thriller “Magic”. Anthony Hopkins’ frightening performance as a schizophrenic ventriloquist shows how scenes can really work involving a single actor playing both a character and a hand puppet carrying on conversations with themselves.