Film Review: A public meltdown launches ‘The Humbling’
You can make a long list of bullet points showing the similarities between “The Humbling,” Barry Levinson’s new film, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman.” Both revolve around actors having identity crises, so not surprisingly there are little duplications throughout. Levinson’s film has its own pleasures, but it lacks the manic momentum that drives “Birdman.” A percussion score here would be like death-metal band in a Zen monastery.
Al Pacino plays Simon Axler, a star of (mostly) stage and (a little) screen. One night, Simon has a sudden meltdown and launches himself off the front of the stage as though into a mosh pit. Unfortunately for him, there are no moshers and he lands flat on his face.
Hauled to the hospital and stretched on a gurney, he moans in pain and then asks the nurse if she believed the moan, if it was convincingly real. When she nods yes, he shows his higher critical standards: “No, it didn’t sound sincere,” he says and moans louder. You might imagine that Simon is trying to engage her in joking banter, but, no, he’s dead serious. He’s that lost in his crumbling sense of his own life.
After a brief period in a convalescent/rehab center, he holes up in his huge house in the woods. Despite the repeated pleading of his agent, Jerry (Charles Grodin), he refuses to work, convinced that his gift has left him.
When Pegeen (Greta Gerwig) shows up on his doorstep, it takes him a minute to recognize her as the (former) little girl, who fell madly in love with him when she was 10. Of course, that was almost 20 years ago, and Pegeen — daughter of two of his old acting comrades — is now a theater professor, an avowed lesbian, and an attractively imposing figure (Gerwig towers over Pacino).
The inevitable affair begins, occasionally interrupted by Pegeen’s outraged parents (Dianne Wiest, Dan Hedaya), two of her former lovers (Kyra Sedgwick, Billy Porter), and a loon (Nina Arianda) who stalks Simon, demanding that he kill her husband. These aren’t their only problems: Simon is nearly broke, and Pegeen a little sexually itchy.
“The Humbling” was adapted by Buck Henry (“The Graduate,” “To Die For”) and Michal Zebede, from Philip Roth’s 2009 novel, not the first Roth book to describe an older man/younger woman romance. It is rendered here as a semi-comedy of awkwardness — not surprising given Henry’s involvement. It would be wrong, however, to sell it as a straight-out comedy: There’s a strong dose of “Black Swan” mixed in with the “Birdman” elements. Like “Black Swan,” “The Humbling” drifts between fantasy and reality, as the protagonist becomes progressively unmoored.
Pacino is in relatively restrained mode here. He mumbles instead of braying, and it’s all for the better, particularly since the mumbling is the source of some of the funniest material.
Gerwig has been an indie darling ever since her unforgettable performance in “Greenberg,” a film whose discomfort level makes “The Humbling” look like afternoon tea. Everyone else in the cast is fine, but only Grodin gets to be funny.
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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).