Movie: Laurel Canyon
Starring Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Bekinsale,
Alessandro Nivola, Natascha McElhone
Written and Directed by Lisa Cholodenko (Sony Pictures Classics)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes


Remember the Mamas and Papas singing "young girls are coming to the canyon"? Laurel Canyon is the canyon they were talking about, a neighborhood above Hollywood that was kind of a hippie stronghold 30 years ago. Laurel Canyon the film plays on that rock and roll heritage but at its heart it's rather soap opera-like drama.

Jane (McDormand) is a successful record producer but she's a real throwback to those heady days of the 60s and 70s. Her son Sam (Bale), however, renounced all that, and he's now a young Harvard-educated doctor. As the film opens he's taken a job in LA so he's moving back to the family house in the canyon. Unfortunately his mother hasn't vacated; in fact, she's recording an album there. When Sam and his studious fiancé, Alex (Bekinsale), first walk in, they find Jane and the band toking away on a bong like there's no tomorrow. Make that like it was still yesterday. And then the fun begins.

A script like this could easily have been played for laughs but here it's played very straight, er, stoned. Sam is embarrassed by his mom, but brainy Alex is seduced away from her masters thesis by the siren songs the band is working on. Sam also gets his head turned by a lovely intern (McElhone) at the hospital where he starts working. See, I told you it was a soap opera!

All the performances are well done, but the biggest scene stealer is Alessandro Nivola as Ian, the lead singer in the band and Jane's main squeeze. He's actually American but he does the singing and the Brit rocker accent so well you'd think he has a couple platinum albums to his credit already. We haven't heard the last from him.

Lisa Cholodenko's film is finely crafted. The music holds up well and McDormand especially seems completely at home as Jane, but the whole plot seems like it got coughed up from a late 60s time vortex. It's not a bad film at all, but I find myself thinking, what is Laurel Canyon doing here in the 21st Century?

The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the film? Yes
Would I go to see it again? It's certainly worthy, but think I got everything the first time.

© 2003 - Rusty Pipes