The Leisure Class

My wife and I, after seeing Pete Jones pop up, simultaneously watched seasons 1 and 4. It was pretty interesting. Pete Jones had a hard time getting a handle on how to direct, but had a mélange of guys around him arguing over production issues. Jason Mann had a clear vision of what he wanted, pulled off some excellent directorial skill, and had one producer bring her drama. If I were to hire for a small film, Pete Jones would write the screenplay by himself, Jason Mann would only direct, and Effie Brown would have nothing to do with the production.

The film looked nice, moved along towards where it was headed, and had some good actors. Whatever was in Jason Mann's head did not translate to an overall satisfying experience. As I write this, I'm surprised the movie is at 3.9 on IMDb. I thought it would be closer to a 5. But I have to agree with the 3.9, 3 of which go to Tom Bell and Ed Weeks. If not for them, this film would be a disaster. It's obvious the best parts of the film were ad-libs between the two male leads.

It's my opinion that Effie Brown is a racist. Her complaining about the 'lily-whiteness' (her term) and focus on black crew-members betrays her. I have no issue with blacks, and other non-whites, getting a foot in the door in Hollywood. It's obvious to me that Effie Brown made sure the crew was out-of-proportion black-versus-white-versus-the-population. Her personal agenda became an albatross around the neck of the production. If she were reading this now, her eyes would be open, with a fake, wide, rueful smile to go with it. This was not the production to bring that drama. I hope she gets stuck on Tyler Perry films.

Jason Mann may or may not learn his lesson. It is telling that HBO's head, Len Amato, said he would want time before working with Jason Mann again. It was ridiculous that Len Amato had to hand-hold the end of production (that may be why he gets paid the big bucks). Jason Mann has not earned his stripes before or after this production. His skill as a director is evident. He understands lighting, angles, background, set-up, timing, and editing. His next project should be with the condition that he only direct, and direct as he is told by the producer (and as the script dictates). He made a blunder when he stated something along the lines of, "The director gets the final say in the creative process." Noooo, that is what Woody Allen gets to say/do. The director does his/her job, and the MONEY gets to say from the outset who has the final creative say. Now, if "The Leisure Class" makes $20,000,000, then I know nothing. Somehow I think it won't.

P.S. Imagine Woody Allen in the Bruce Davison role, and whimsy instead of drama. THAT would be a Woody Allen film to see, and with the EXACT SAME script!

I have a feeling that the crucifixion of this movie in the user comments is from PGL viewers who didn't like Jason on the show, didn't get their film selected, or were sticking up for Effie. The most difficult part of enjoying the movie was the fact that most of the scenes were shown out of sequence during PGL, so you already knew the ending before the movie started.

I would call this a dark humor movie, but not necessarily film noir. It does try to shine the light on the troubles of the rich family, but a lot of that doesn't come until the third act. There were a few plot holes, and frankly some of the scenes don't quite ring true. The acting was good though and there were more than a few lines that I laughed at (in particular towards the end).

Normally the brothers would have had a flashback to develop their characters more, but as the movie was effectively a one location picture, they had to do all of it with dialogue that worked for the most part. The Fiona character was developed well enough, I think; however, the sisters and the mother, while competently acting, didn't have a lot of dialogue to offer except for the third act. Bruce Davison was spot on, as usual.

There were a few uncomfortable moments in the beginning, but maybe I adjusted or perhaps the tone became more even because I liked it a lot more at the end then I did in the beginning; the final shot is excellent. Give the director and writers credit, that is a strength that most movies don't have even if they had ten times the budget.

I just binged through the last season of Project Greenlight and right before the final episode, I decided to give "The Leisure Class" a chance. I'd already read the reviews on IMDb and seen that the movie had a 3.9, but felt like I was better served in making my own judgement, despite the bias of having watched the show.

The movie is flawed, for sure and having watched the show, it's hard to feel like it couldn't have been better if a few things had gone differently.

That said, this is definitely worth a watch. It IS funny. It's a dark comedy. This reminds me more of "Running With Scissors" or "Death At A Funeral," but certainly not as good as either.

Ed Weeks, Tom Bell and Bridget Regan are all spot on. The flaws lie more in the script than anything else. Sadly, this flick seems to have been the death knell for Jason, Tom and the Project Greenlight series.

I would absolutely encourage anyone to give this movie a shot; it is worth your time.

And regarding other comments:

1. It is funny! 2. Fiona evolves and comes out STRONG. 3. Character development is there, though it doesn't follow the typical three act structure, WHICH, if you watched Greenlight, you should be aware of. By the end of the flick, if you don't care about ANY of the characters, then you may have missed the point.

I think that once a little time has separated THE LEISURE CLASS from the trumped up drama and cheap "reality" of Project Green Light, the film will be treated a little more fairly.

Not that it's a good film. It mostly isn't.

The whole first half is filled with unearned character motivations, plagued by pacing problems and tedious to the point of boredom, particularly anytime Tom Bell is talking. Bell's character is almost insufferable. An alcoholic so destructive to any social situation he's in that he must be mentally I'll. This could be seen as a pretty ambitious character for a social satire, except that it's all meaningless, which is most evident when he turns out to be a good guy in tune with his flaws for the tidy ending. So the bell character ends up neither being enjoyable nor consistent.

Where the film does deserve some credit is in its thematic ambition, its mean spirit and... the hunting room. Now this is the scene everyone complains about the most, but it's the only part of the movie that actually worked on a substantive level for me. Once the tone of the film grows darker and the cast descends into the basement the film tilts towards the brilliant. This is in large part due to the amazing performance by Bruce Davison. To be fair, Davison is the only actor with a real character to work with in this film. A character that's been hiding his true ugly-resentful-misogynist nature all along. He is the leisure class. Corrupt, selfish and old- world to a fault. And as he reveals himself, Davison gives it his all, almost saving the movie for me.

But don't worry, after that it's pretty much back to its sloppy ways as it rushes towards an unearned resolution.

A side note, Bridget Regan turns in a strong performance that lives almost entirely in her subtle reactions, mostly because she doesn't have a lot to work with.

The Leisure Class is the film green lit by the fourth season of Project Greenlight, this year produced by HBO and won by neophyte filmmaker Jason Mann.

For those of you unfamiliar with Project Greenlight, it is a competition produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (and previously co-produced by Chris Moore who was inexplicably absent this season) in which one winner gets to make a movie. The applicants are typically burgeoning cinema creators or drowning creatives who long ago took the safe route of a standard job. After a hiatus, the fourth season finally returns after a ten year lull, and this time New York film student Jason Mann won. Initially Mann was to direct a film written by season one winner Pete Jones called "Not Another Pretty Woman" but after some finagling, Mann won over HBO and was able to direct his own project, The Leisure Class.

I'm a huge fan of the heart and premise of Project Greenlight – give someone, who would otherwise not have a chance at breaking into Hollywood, the opportunity to make a movie. There is something interesting about watching these bright eyed individuals learn about the indie film maker's experience dealing with a studio, a la getting thrown into the deep end. Without fail though, you end up cheering for the Greenlight winner and inevitably form a bias in your experience of the final project. In an effort to truly watch the film with favoritism, I refrained from watching the series after episode two and skipped right to the movie.

The premise for The Leisure Class is not complicated in anyway, a British man named William is about to marry into an 'old money' Connecticut family. This happy occasion is turned on its head when William's eccentric brother turns up and the truth of William's pedigree and intentions can no longer be hidden.

The Leisure Class as a film is riddled with problems from start to finish, which makes us shudder at the thought of the state of Not Another Pretty Woman, the initial screenplay which was to be made. Character development, acting, plot, tone, structure, cinematography, production design, editing – basically everything needs work and feels like a rough first draft that should never see the light of day except as a canistered film on a shelf.

If you pick away at all the physical imperfections, what comes down to it is The Leisure Class is a weak script. The pacing is terrible, unbearably slow and monotonous at the start, with bouts of fleeting and nonsensical mania. The core events of the film do create a substandard plot, but the dialogue and transitional occurrences to get us from one main plot point to the next are absent. Tonally, The Leisure Class is off-putting, jumpy and abrasive while being equally pointless.

Yes, the actors could have brought more to their roles than what was there on paper, especially the feebly written females, most notably Bridget Regan who plays Fiona, but that minor fix would not have been enough to save the film. The two leads, played by Ed Weeks and Tom Bell, who are the heart of the film needed significant guidance based on their performances which a more experienced director would have noticed or edited around. Their banter, which seems excessively ad-libbed at times, needed to be reined in considerably so that the core structure of the film was retained. Listening to the dialogue, you long for the characters to get to the point, patiently waiting for the movie to start, which it never does.

It seems as though Jason Mann was given every opportunity to succeed and utilize this film as a catalyst for his career and exemplification of his talents as a film maker. Based on The Leisure Class, Mann needs to go back to the basics of exciting and compelling story-telling before jumping into filming.

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