Once in a while in this line of work, some strange titles just magically fall into your lap. I must confess I had no idea what American Cowslip was when I got it for review. Situations like these usually result in one of two possibilities: either it's going to be a wonderful, woefully overlooked surprise; or I'm going to voodoo someone for digging buried junk for me.
Looking at the DVD cover only served to confuse even more. Mainly because it has Peter Falk, Val Kilmer, Clorice Leachman and Rip Torn on the cover, but also because it identifies itself as a "Redneck Comedy," whatever that means. I can see Rip Torn, that crazy bastard, yukking it up with Larry the Cable Guy, but Peter Falk? The phrase, naturally, conjured images of a slapstick Blue Collar Comedy kind of movie, which I dreaded with utmost dread. After watching the actual movie, which is not at all that, I wish I'd gotten the flatulent comedy instead.
American Cowslip is one of those quirky restless-in-a-small-town story. I say that like it's a trope, but it's actually a rather new take, in a confusingly baffling way. It's not that it's hard to figure out its intention; it's just that it's astonishing how a bunch of people got together and completed such nonsense, especially when there doesn't seem to be any joy conveyed on screen. The comedy is so navel-gazing and involves such miserable characters that they work together to make the film entirely forgettable. Imagine that, a film with an oversaturated Burtonian palette and desperately quirky bunch of characters who all engage in inhumanly over-the-top behaviors, and yet not a single memorable thing about it.
The main character in this fantasy Americana is a heroin junkie who's afraid of leaving his house and hasn't for years. His name is Ethan, he's unkempt, he never takes off his blue tuxedo (even in blistering heat or dipping in his inflatable swimming pool), and he has the distinct impression of being the result of a cross-pollination between Vincent Gallo and Johnny Knoxville. He's played by Ronnie Gene Blevins, who's also the producer and co-writer of the film, proving that writing your own part doesn't always lead to better roles.
As the film stomps along, we see Ronnie deceive the only people who care about him, a band of old ladies who regularly play poker with him, by telling them that he's diabetic and needs insulin injections; we see him battle Rip Torn as a hardass gym coach landlord who lives next door and enjoys tormenting him; and we raise eyebrows as he develops a relationship with a pretty 17-year-old neighbor from an abusive home who in these movies always fall for the f--k-up. In very small roles, Val Kilmer appears as Ronnie's very religious cop brother, who wants to set Ronnie on the right path by enlisting the help of the local priest, as played by a blank Peter Falk who looks like someone quickly frocked him and ushered him onto the set as he was having a stroke. They don't really provide any conflict or anything; they just sort of show up to pad out the chaos.
Surely this kind of material should be imbued with black humor and sardonic wit to sugar the ugliness, but American Cowslip is instead all sorts of sentimental and desperately cutesy, which only serves to highlight how unpleasant its characters and setting are. A grown man in a tux passed out in a plastic tub of dirty water from a drug binge with an innocent teenage girl is just too absurd to be edgy and too icky to be sweet.
The plot, if we can pick one out of this mess, is that Ronnie aims to grow the perfect American Cowslip (that's a flower, by the way) in his garden so he can win a Garden of the Year contest and pay his outstanding rent with the prize so he won't get evicted by Rip Torn. I suppose the flower is a metaphor for Ronnie's growth, or that beauty can appear in the most dismal conditions, or maybe it's just another inconsequential quirky detail that's about as meaningful as the rest of this inconsequential movie.
DVD Bonus Features
The extras included are the two expected ones for an indie production such as this. There's one commentary track with director Mark David, producer Tony Hewett and writer/star Ronnie Gene Blevins that's almost, but not quite, as boring as the film itself, and there's a fairly generic 25-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, for those of you who want to know what the making of a trainwreck entails.
"American Cowslip" is on sale September 7, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy. Directed by Mark David. Written by Ronnie Gene Blevins, Mark David, Christopher Morrison. Starring Bruce Dern, Cloris Leachman, Diane Ladd, Peter Falk, Rip Torn, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Val Kilmer.
