Monster in a Box

I watched this mainly because I liked "Swimming to Cambodia," but for me this is a lesser effort. It takes no small ego to think that you can keep people's interest for ninety minutes by sitting at a desk and telling what's been happening to you for the last several years. Gray has more success at this than most, but the stories he tells here about living in Los Angeles, traveling to Nicaragua, dealing with an AIDS scare, being the stage manager in a production of "Our Town," and so on, just did not captivate me.

The music, sound effects, lighting changes, and varying camera angles (that I presume were intended to make this monologue more interesting) I found distracting. And Gray himself engages in some unnecessary histrionics.

This film is not without its moments but I doubt that I will remember much about it in a week. It will be best appreciated by more devoted Spaulding Gray fans than I.

What was I thinking? Who, other than a close relative, would give 10 stars to this horse-manure? The guy is not even funny once. He exudes a sense of entitlement as "a witty guy," but turns out to be a bag of wind. Worse than Dinner With Andre, though I didn't think that would ever be possible. My despair for humanity would now be unendurable but for the one thing that keeps me going when all else fails: the FFWD button.

Actor/monologuist Spaulding Gray sits behind a desk and spends an hour-and-a-half talking to an audience about the years he spent composing his autobiographical novel "Impossible Vacation." If this sounds remotely interesting to you, then you're probably gonna love it. Gray has a talent for being funny, sad, and insightful all at the same time; he's much more than a teller of witty tales. And he's rarely dull. After watching this film and his "Swimming to Cambodia" (also recommended), I can honestly say that I would pay money to listen to this man talk any day of the week.

In this monologue, Spalding Gray has returned to exploit his incredible storytelling abilities, which he will use to take us on a psychological journey through his experience of attempting to write a book (which he calls "the Monster")- after having two previously successful monologues (that is, excluding his uber-rare monologues on LA and a Personal History of American Theatre), a minor acting career (most notably in Joffe's "The Killing Fields"), and the death of his mother.

As always, he puts on one hell of an entertaining performance. I still like "Swimming to Cambodia" better, but he puts on an equally amazing performance in this piece. It's just that there isn't as much of a cinematic touch put on the film- as compared to "Swimming" and "Gray's Anatomy". The focus here is all on Spalding.

Spalding Gray is truly a master storyteller that must be seen to be experienced. I regret not getting an oppourtunity to see him live...before he passed on and all. Thankfully we have these brilliant testaments, which he has left us with. 9 out of 10.

It isn't a movie but a monologue performance on film and a really good monologuist performance by Spaulding Gray. Anecdotes embellished for storytelling are patterned to fit in with flashbacks to the "Impossible Vacation" that sits atop the desk.

Gray theatrically converses with the audience and other viewers of the performance, at times with the minimalist-synthesized score by Laurie Anderson to accentuate the mood. You will feel both the attempt for Gray to come full circle and the subtle depression Gray exudes through his retrospections well into the performance.

Anyone who has lost someone close to mental illness or has lived a life like that of Spaulding Gray will empathize as they watch this series of strange adventures into writing, acting, relationships, society, and the simile of personal solitude to self-realization whenever experiences unexpected encounters through one's own ambling.