Roger Dodger

Roger was an interesting film that I did not like. It was interesting for its character study, some unusual camera work and its background music. The plot is more an episode than a story line and the best comedy lines occur in the first ten minutes. From that point on the protagonist character, Roger, and the film turn toward sad. Also the ranting pedantry of the character is repetitious and for me, quickly became tiresome.

The situation is a 40-something male character, employed in advertising, who is stuck emotionally in the superficial gamesmanship of initiating relationships with women. There are some beautiful women, a redeeming factor for male viewers. This character receives a surprise visit from his 16-year-old nephew. Coaching this nephew becomes the stuff of the film and it goes downhill from this point, ending with a ludicrous scene in the boys school cafeteria.

What contributes to making this film an episode rather than a story is the lack of change in the protagonist, Roger. There is a complexity to this character that we only see glimpses of, but these glimpses demonstrate Scotts ability to portray the character. The nephew character evinces a perspective with more depth than his uncle. Unfortunately, this undergoes some change under his uncles influence.

The camera in the opening scene with five people at a restaurant table is so close that an arm, a shoulder or a head intermittently obscures your view. The director decided to leave this in and it makes the scene less contrived and more real. Later, in a street scene, the camera is on the other side of a busy street with traffic streaming past and in front of the characters. This gives the shot a city reality.

Dylan Kidd was first time writer and a first time director of the film. It won a best film at a New York festival limited to first time filmmakers.

Campbell Scott who played Roger is the son of George C. Scott. He has been in active in film and TV for fifteen years but I dont remember any of his characters. Scott was absolutely convincing in his role as a jerk. I was also impressed with the work done by Jesse Eisenberg who played Nick, the nephew. Isabella Rosellini is of course the daughter of the classic beauty, Ingrid Bergman. Rosellini, at age 50, still looks good. She had only a minor role in this film as Rogers boss.

I can recommend the first ten-minute comedy scene.

Reviewed March 19, 2003