STRAW DOGS
By Gary Murray
Starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard and James Woods
Written and directed by Ron Lurie
Running time 110 min
MPAA Rating R
Selig Film Rating Cable
There are as many films are there are tastes in the world. While some cater to the largest common denominator, others are a niche cinema, appealing to a small group of film patrons. Straw Dogs the kind of film that will appeal to a very small minority.
Playing more along the lines of a Southern Gothic melodrama, Straw Dogs is about a Hollywood couple David and Amy (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth) who decide to chuck the Tinsel Town lifestyle and move back to her rural, redneck home town. He is a writer who is working on a new screenplay and she is an actress who just had her TV show canceled.
As soon as they get into town, the locals give David the ‘You ain’t from around here, ‘er ya boy?’ attitude. Amy is more of the hot cheerleader who ran away from her town family. David hires Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard) a former football legend and former beau of Amy to fix the roof of their barn.
As Charlie and his crew become a part of the home life of David and Amy, the couple very soon realizes that these “good ‘ole country boys” have a vicious streak that no one in town can control. Adding on to the pressure is that Charlie still believes that Amy is his.
The other side of the plot is about Coach Heddon (James Woods). He is another who is past his glory days, getting drunk on a daily basis and watching over his daughter Janice (Willa Holland) who seems to have a bad stirring for the local simpleton Jeremy (Dominic Purcell). Jeremy thinks the young woman is his girlfriend, much to the chagrin of the entire town. The entire (and WAY too long) build-up of Straw Dogs is the confrontation between David and Charlie, a confrontation that leads to major violence.
If the film is trying to comment on the nihilism inherent in our modern society, it looses its focus when making the point. In the end, it just becomes violence for the sake of violence. There are scenes of rape and brutality that go if not over the edge, then right up to it. This is a disturbing film, something that will never appeal to the date crowd or the ‘just want to be entertained’ cinema-philes.
The best thing about Straw Dogs was James Woods as the alcoholic former coach. He is all spit and vinegar as the spark to the ending rage, a man gone crazy for good reason. His fault is taking the law into his own hand and demanding vigilante justice.
Kate Bosworth is not used in Straw Dogs but abused. She seems to be in the film for two disturbing reasons, to be ogled and destroyed. The makers of the film make sure that the audience can see her chest nuggets in just about every scene. There are shot after shots of her toned backside. She becomes a piece of meat and not a performer.
Straw Dogs is a remake of a 1971 Sam Peckinpah film. He is probably best known for The Wild Bunch and The Getaway, both films of extreme violence. In the turbulent late 1960’s/early 1970’s, films of over the top mayhem dominated the box office as a reflection of the war in Vietnam. But, their day has passed. This film feels like a very bad homage to a genre no longer in vogue.
