Some people are given a gift; a gift they may or may not have to work for. This gift is like a knife – depending on whether it’s in the hands of a surgeon or a killer will determine whether the gift is “good” or not. Some people are just not prepared to handle their gift – it could be fame, power, riches, relationships, abilities or something entirely supernatural and special – it’s something they are simply unequipped to handle, recognize or perhaps even understand. Sympathy for Delicious, the first film directed by actor Mark Ruffalo and starring the writer Christopher Thornton, tackles this topic. And the topic itself is a gift, full of deep questions and rife with drama – but are the director, star, cast and crew equipped to handle it?
This film tells the story of Dean O’Dwyer (Christopher Thornton), also known as the unfortunately named “Delicious D,” a DJ in Los Angeles. Paralyzed and on skid row in Los Angeles, Dean is forced to live in his car. There he meets Father Joe Roselli (Mark Ruffalo), a passionate young priest. Both Dean and the Father soon discover that Dean possesses the otherworldly power to heal people, but in a case of eternal irony, the phrase “Physician heal thyself” is lost on Dean as he is unable to heal himself. Despite Father Joe’s warnings, Dean angrily decides to use his newfound gift for fame and fortune. He joins a rock band led by charismatic front man (again, unfortunately named) The Stain (Orlando Bloom) with bassist Ariel (Juliette Lewis), and manager Nina Hogue (Laura Linney). But his newfound notoriety is unable to cure the hurt that encompasses his life.
Thornton and Ruffalo have been real life friends for over 20 years and met while they were studying with Stella Adler before Thornton had a rock climbing accident that fractured two of his vertebrae leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. That did not stop him from pursuing his love of acting and he is one of the best parts of this film. It also helped that he wrote the story himself and that it came from a place he knows well. He states in the featurette on the DVD that he attended faith healing services soon after his accident and that those experiences were the impetus for this story. Christopher’s Dean is not a man of faith; he is a man of cynicism and of bitterness for his lot in life. That either God or cruel fate, the movie never places a finger on which, gives him (and now we go back to it) a gift that he does not know how to deal with is both his salvation and his downfall.
And not only his downfall but also Ruffalo’s Father Joe who, in seeing what Dean can do and in having dollar signs flash in his eyes, not for himself of course, God forbid, but for the shelter he works at, uses Dean as an excuse to draw people and pass around the collection plate. Because why should a gift of healing be any different than a gift of music or a gift with numbers or any other gift someone may have. Even if the motives and intentions of the people involved begin pure, the gifted will be sought after, they will be studied and, by gum, people will try to exploit them.
To further the exploitation, the band that Dean joins and DJs for finds out about his ability and uses that as the draw for people to come to their gigs. This is a good idea but the execution and the casting, apart from Juliette Lewis, of that idea is utterly horrible. All the band members are terrible and deliver their lines with inanity; exchanging f-bombs for every other word because they think that will make them sound edgy. Most of the other band members I can somewhat forgive for their lack of believability but I seriously am doubting whether Orlando Bloom took this role very seriously or, if he did, what sort of avant-garde art piece he thought he was overacting in. The music in this film was written by The Besnard Lakes, however, since music is such a huge part of Dean’s life and, truly, of the story entire, I feel they really missed an opportunity to have some shining music rather then the usual independent film, sad sack, slow, legato music. And the songs the band plays in the Pentecostal revivals they call shows are utterly atrocious, but that may have been the point.
There is absolutely no one in this film who isn’t wholly selfish, save one. Noah Emmerich plays a friend of sorts to Dean. He’s the one who first takes Dean to the faith healer. He is a pushy, persistent man of faith and it is he who allows for Dean to close out this movie with a beautiful and redemptive ending. At the end of the day, people are drawn to the new, the strange, the bizarre. They are drawn by the need for hope… no matter what the packaging.
DVD and Blu-ray Bonus Features Include:
Behind-the-Story Featurette with Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Thornton
Audio Commentary with Orlando Bloom and Mark Ruffalo
Deleted Scenes
Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus Features Include:
Photo Gallery
Sympathy for Delicious has a running time of 96 minutes and is rated R.
Produced by Corner Store Entertainment’s Scott Prisand, Matt Weaver and Andrea Sperling, with Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Thornton, Sympathy for Delicious was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Directing at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
5/7
