Color Me Kubrick: Putting the recluse to good use

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

The fun, low-budget Color Me Kubrick snuck into a few theatres (and the following week onto DVD--let's have more of these near-simultaneous releases!), a mere fortnight prior to this week's relatively big-budget The Hoax. Both films deal with a scam artist who uses as his centerpiece to snare victims a well-known recluse--Stanley Kubrick, in the former film, Howard Hughes in the latter. Evidently, celebrity has its price whether you court it or shun it. (Not having seen The Hoax, I still must mention the lame-brained print ad in which some cretinous art director, with approval from Miramax executives, has seen to it that the ad appears to read verbatim, "The Richard Gere Hoax." This caused my partner to ask, quite understandably, "Is it about that gerbil thing?")

Color Me Kubrick, though it offers no rodents, is gay as a goose and twice as entertaining. John Malkovich is in fine form as an absolutely unrepentant con man posing as the famous film director and taking everyone from a fledgling architect and a rock group to a pharmacist (Henry Goodman) and a would-be restaurateur (Richard E. Grant) for very bumpy rides.

Using accents as silly and bogus (but such fun!) as you've probably ever heard, Malkovich has a deliciously good time with his scams, while director Brian W. Cook (who was assistant director on two Kubrick films, Barry Lyndon and The Shining), along with writer Anthony Frewin, provides the actor ample opportunity to display his wit and craft. Based on a fellow who did indeed con people by pretending to be Kubrick, the film really is nothing more than a lark of sorts. But it is done with such nuance, economy and charm that it shouldn't take more than a simple shove to have you follow wherever Mr. Malkovich leads. His marks--generally gullible and self-loving enough to bring to mind that Puck-ian phrase, "What fools these mortals be!"--are almost as much fun as their naughty scammer. Exceptions are NY Times critic/op-ed maven Frank Rich and his wife Alex Witchell (nicely played by William Hootkins and Marisa Berenson) who cast a jaded eye on the proceedings and, in fact, start the ball rolling toward something you might call justice--if, that is, you're a fan of extreme irony.