Hoffa (1992)

Plot: The story of legendary Teamsters' leader, Jimmy Hoffa (Jack Nicholson), as seen by his right-hand man, Bobby Ciaro (Danny DeVito). Basically, the film chronicles Jimmy's life from when Bobby looses his job because of Jimmy, through Jimmy's ups and down with the Teamsters and the Mafia and his subsequent incarceration, to that fateful day when he disappeared.

To be honest, he was a pretty exciting a guy. He didn't concern himself with the law, for example. He wanted a justice. And, as the tagline claims, he was "the man who was willing to pay the price for power."

Fair enough.

Written by my dear David Mamet, I was expecting his caustic wit, his clever play on audience expectations, and his startlingly moments of human clarity.

No such luck. All the hallmarks of Mamet dialogue are there without any of the usual bite. So it made me wonder, what gives?

DeVito, that's what. While I have always respected him as an actor and a producer, I don't understand why he continues to direct. He's terrible at it! His actors give either over-the-top performances or monochromatic ones - there are no nuanced greys in here. He spends too much time setting up his cameras to pay attention to what's going on in front of them.

Nicholson falls into the over-the-top category, along with Kevin Anderson's RFK, and Armand Assante's take on the emotionally void, murmuring Mafioso. Neither hits the right emotional highs or lows, although Nicholson does his very best to confound your opinion of Hoffa. He makes it impossible to demonize or idolize the man.

DeVito also wastes a talented cast, giving J.T. Walsh, John C. Reilly, and Frank Whaley very little do with their talents. That bugged me.

In the end, I know it was a failure because I kept asking myself what the point was. Yes, I maintain that movies don't always have to have points. But people's lives do. They, in fact, invariably have points, even if we fail to recognize them. And DeVito fails to recognize Hoffa's.

Plus I didn't care for their interpretation of Hoffa's disappearance, regardless of how likely it might be.