| October 2003 - | LA
Weekly GARMENTO "In this leaden satire, Grindy (Katie McNichol) lands an executive-assistant job at Poncho Jeans, a once-chic New York fashion house whose label Grindy coveted as a teenager but, alas, never owned. Her hero, Poncho (a miscast Juan Carlos Hernandez, who looks about 25 years too young to play a 1970s fashion mogul), is floundering until Grindy suggests re-launching the jeans line, an idea that saves the company but leads Grindy down the road to soullessness. First-time writer-director Michele Maher's intentions aren't clear, since the film's tone shifts, scene by scene, from fashion yuks (pre-Grindy, Poncho's big idea was men's underwear with a hugely padded crotch) to 1950s-style romantic melodrama, as Grindy's greed poisons her relationship with her boss, Ronnie (David Thornton). Ronnie's a depressive drag, so that the sadder he gets, the more dirgelike the film grows, as if it were a remake of the '73 fashion-world downer, Save the Tiger. Maher's filmmaking is competent - the sets are inventive, and all the camera angles match up - but someone should have warned her that neither she nor her young cast is experienced enough to pull off the line "The only people buying it are the faggots." (Chuck Wilson)" |
