NDSU Spectrum: Movie review

‘O’ is for overwrought

By JOHN HANSEN

Sept. 7, 2001

Here’s your chance to see star-making performances from Josh Hartnett, Mekhi Phifer and Julia Stiles. What’s that, you say they’ve already been in several films in the last two years?

Well, there’s an explanation. “O” — a modern update of Shakespeare’s “Othello” set amidst a prep basketball squad — was actually in the can and ready for release way back in the spring of 1999. Then some psycho in Colorado killed a bunch of people, so any film that remotely dealt with teen violence was delayed for months, or in this case, years.

Now Lions Gate has released it with little fanfare aside from the substantial buzz from critics. “O” is a gutsy attempt at blending the past with the present, but it’s not really worth the wait. The film makes a furious late comeback with a brilliantly tragic ending, but it loses the game in the early stages.

The “O” might as well stand for Overwrought. Granted, writer Brad Kaaya and director Tim Blake Nelson are adapting Shakespeare, the most overwrought (and overrated) writer of all time, but their obsession with capturing the oppressive mood of the Bard comes at the expense of characterization for most of the cast.

The two exceptions are Phifer and Hartnett, who deliver remarkably human performances amidst all the doom and gloom. Phifer plays Odin James, the team’s star player and only black student at the school. Although he’s loved by his white girlfriend Desi (Stiles, who isn’t given much to work with) and the coach (Martin Sheen, doing a Bobby Knight impression), he longs to be accepted by everyone. Hugo (Hartnett), the team’s scrappy utility man, isn’t pleased with his father doting over Odin, so he embarks on an overly complex web of manipulation to gain his pop’s attention.

Among those he lures into his web are nerdy rich kid Roger (Elden Henson), who wants Desi’s attention; Michael (Andrew Keegan), the team’s second-best player; and Hugo’s oblivious girlfriend Emily (Rain Phoenix).

The idea that Hugo would go to all this trouble is, of course, absurd. He’s a fairly articulate guy, and while his dad isn’t exactly Mr. Nice, it wouldn’t hurt to try talking to him first, and make murder and mayhem his Plan B. Nonetheless, Hartnett almost pulls it off. Although he’s the villain, I was rooting for him to succeed because he’s equal parts charming and pitiable.

Phifer is solid throughout the film, but his most stunning work comes in the final bloody scenes; Sheen also does his best work here, finally showing some humanity.

It’s a shame we have to wait so long for something to justify the film’s dire atmosphere, but this final sequence is so deliciously disturbing and beautifully choreographed that it nearly saves the movie. If you know “Othello,” you know what I’m talking about.

While it’s a million times better than “Romeo & Juliet” (1996) and a hundred times better than the “Taming of the Shrew” update “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), “O” comes up a little short. Kaaya and Nelson deserve credit for attempting to update Shakespeare for the 21st Century while still clinging to the somber tone of the 18th, but the film is just a little too full of itself to be totally believable or enjoyable.

Title: “O”

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles, Martin Sheen, Elden Henson, Andrew Keegan, Rain Phoenix

Written by: Brad Kaaya

Director: Tim Blake Nelson

Grade: B-