A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012)

1/2 (out of 4)

Writer-director Roman Coppola quickly made this thing during the time that Charlie Sheen was going through his mental breakdown. In the film Sheen plays Charles Swan, a man who gets dumped by his girlfriend and begins to act in a variety of strange ways so us lucky viewers get the chance to look inside his mind to see what makes him tick. Okay, who in the hell really cares what makes Charles Swan III tick? I'm going to steal from Roger Ebert's review of this movie and he's right when he said a movie is a sad thing to waste. Not only is Coppola's talents wasted but so are Sheen's and Bill Murray's. Mr. Murray doesn't make too many movies these days and it's rather sad to see him wasted his talents in this film. I'm really not sure what Coppola was going for, although I'm quite certain somewhere down the road this here will be a cult movie with fans dropping acid and smoking joints to it. What we've basically got are a lot of small scenes where Sheen gets to act out a wide range of things. He would be dancing, flirting, find himself in a dangerous situation or he might just be looking at the ladies. The problem is that none of these "visions" are funny and after about ten-minutes it becomes clear that you don't care about Swan or anything in his head. He's a rather boring character who I'm guessing is loosely based on Sheen but I think the film would have perhaps worked better had they really gone after Sheen and the mental state he was in when all of this stuff was going on. I think that would have been a lot more interesting than what we get here. The only reason I don't give this thing a BOMB is that I'm going to at least give the filmmakers, actors and producers some credit for at least trying something different. However, just trying something different doesn't mean you're going to end up with anything good.

Well that's how the movie might have been promoted. But while "Being John Malkovich" actually was funny and enticing, this might have one good scene in it (involving Cowboys). It tries hard to be quirky, casting Bill Murray helps with that. But Charlie Sheen who is playing the character Charles Swan does not cut it. I like quite a lot of Charlies movies he has done. But he can't pull this one off (meta or not).

The problem of the movie therefor relies not in its incoherence (it has somewhat of a straight story line in between all the dream sequences or whatever you want to call them), rather in the lack of "good" incoherence. There is system and a plan when it comes to madness and trying to explore the mind as again "Being John Malkovich" has proved. Charlie Kaufman (another Charlie) is better suited in portraying this. I would suggest not wasting your time on this

A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III is just that. A quick glimpse inside the mind of a self-obsessed, sex-addicted album cover artist who's sanity and life are put into question after his latest girlfriend breaks up with him.

Charles Swan III is lightly played by Charlie Sheen, who, looking worse than ever, might seem perfect for the role but only makes it that much harder to care for the character. His mind, life and the film are a chaotic mess. His regrets, his pain and loss come off so insincere, it's boring to watch. What keeps us watching the film is the genuine laughs brought by Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray, who play parts in Swan's real life and multiple roles inside his warped mind. It is the scenes they are in that save the entire film from being a complete failure.

Roman Coppola's bizarre odyssey never takes itself too serious, creating a world where anything goes. That, in itself, is a great achievement for a writer/director. It's hard to tell if it's Charlie Sheen's lack of a performance or if it's the written character's lack of genuine heart that holds this film back from becoming what it was hoping to be: a film for those of us who crave originality and appreciate dark chaotic comedies no one else dares to make.

The Wes Anderson link is obvious, it's less refined than his movies but in a strange way it also feels less constricted and therefore more free to go wild. Sure, it is self-consciously over-styled but it opened with a spirit that reminded me of late 60s movies like Head (The Monkees) or the kind of 'wry portrait of a groovy guy' movie that Peter Sellers could have starred in. The opening scene with Terry Gilliam style animation was promising. I was prepared to over-ride the cheese factor and enjoy an immersive ride into the quirky.

But for all the promise of ideas - it just wasn't fun enough.

The bulk of the movie (from about 20mins onwards) was basically a vague saunter through Charles breaking up with his girlfriend and thinking about making an album cover for his client/friend. Odd how the movie's initial wild spirit seemed to dry up.

Characters such as Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza and Jason S dip in and out of his life, all having boring conversations with him. None of them lifted it, Sheen was the best of a dull bunch. Even as you watch, so many scenes just slip through your fingers.

It feels mostly like a filmed rehearsal of a half-baked script, made using movie-world connections as if they were there as a favour to a friend. The only thing that stands out is the general plastic look and certain details (egg and bacon stickers on his car etc).

For a short movie, it really dragged. Falls uneasily between 'try hard' and 'didn't try hard enough'. Doesn't even qualify as a 'so bad it's good movie'.

And it's not even a glimpse into Swan's mind - he is impenetrable behind his permanent sunglasses - it's more of a glimpse into the mind of a movie-maker with money and connections who thought 'looking cool' was more important than deeper levels of development.

This is an impossible review to write because this movie is just so weird. So weird in fact that I can't really compare it to anything. The closest thing that I can compare it to are Wes Anderson movies and that's because the director of this happens to be Roman Coppola, who is a frequent collaborator with Anderson. And I think that being around him for so long has rubbed off on Coppola in a great way. He takes everything that makes a Wes Anderson film so good like the whimsical nature and the quirky characters and creates his own wild ride.

The cast is quite good and filled with big names and even included two more Wes Anderson collaborators. Charlie Sheen plays the the man, the myth, and the legend Charles Swan. He leads the perfect life. He has a good job as a graphic designer and he has a great girlfriend named Ivana. His life comes crashing down, however, when Ivana finds out that he used to be a whore mongering booze hound. She breaks up with him and he can't handle it, which results in a health scare and he thinks he's on the verge of death. And thus begins this weird journey. Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray pop up at different times throughout and their scenes are so strange that I can't even explain them. They are funny though. Several scenes like that peppered throughout the movie are just weird and out there and surreal that all you can do is laugh. Patricia Arquette plays Charlie's sister and they share a couple of the movies more normal restrained scenes together. Aubrey Plaza and Mary Elizabeth Winstead show up too in very small roles and don't really do anything that memorable.

This is my worst review by far and that's OK with me. Like I said in the beginning...this is just an impossible review to write just because of sheer nature of this movie. The review isn't anything more than a rambling mess and it does nothing to really tell you about the movie or to really sell you on it. And to be honest there really isn't anything that can sell you on it...you just have to see it.

It's weird and quirky, but god damn did I like it. Charlie Sheen is perfectly cast as Charles Swan. When you see the movie you'll know why. A lot of weird things happen without much explanation, but I'm guessing its all part of the wildness that is Swan's mind. Sooo funny. Sheen, Schwartzman, & Murray are classic. This is definitely a movie that's gonna have a cult following and isn't gonna make a dime at the box- office. I guarantee I'm one of the only people that praise it because it just so weird. It's like Wes Anderson lite meets The Brothers Bloom. Fantastic. I can tell you to see it just to decide for yourself, but keep a very open mind, give it time to sink in and maybe, just maybe it will surprise you.