MOVIE REVIEW : A Reluctant ‘Hero’

“Hero” (citywide) is something of a mess, but even as a mess it offers more to chew on than many tidier pictures. Haphazard and erratic, involving only in fits and starts, “Hero’s” core is nevertheless so shrewdly and gleefully cynical about public heroism and the cult of celebrity it is impossible not to be at least sporadically amused and entertained.

Written by “Unforgiven” screenwriter David Webb Peoples (from a story by producer Laura Ziskin, Alvin Sargent and Peoples), “Hero” is frankly curious about acts of courage. Is heroism truly selfless or is it, as one of its characters says, rather an act of stupidity, “doing something you wouldn’t do if you thought about it. Not in your self-interest”? Similarly, what kind of citizens are moved to be brave, to put others before themselves? Do they all fit the conventional cereal-box mold or could they, perish the thought, actually be people like Bernie LaPlante?

To know Bernie LaPlante (Dustin Hoffman) is not to love him. A curmudgeonly, antisocial weasel, first met lifting the wallet of his own attorney as a jury in a Chicago courtroom declares him guilty on all charges of receiving stolen goods, LaPlante wouldn’t stick his neck out on a bet. “Keep a low profile, that’s my motto,” he says, and no one who knows him doubts his sincerity on that point.

But one rainy night, driving his barely mobile junker to one of his infrequent get-togethers with his young son, LaPlante can’t help but see an airplane crash directly in front of him. Not one to get too involved in other people’s troubles, he yells an irritated, “What’s the problem, pal?” to the desperate people inside and is initially more worried about ruining his expensive shoes than saving any souls. Yet one thing leads to another and before his lust for the low profile (“I’m a cash kind of guy, I don’t take credit”) causes him to drift off unrecognized into the night, LaPlante’s actions have brought about the rescue of 54 lives.

One of those saved turns out to be Gale Gayley (Geena Davis), the usual hard-charging TV reporter who knows the case of the disappearing hero could be the story of a lifetime. “Who Is the Angel of Flight 104?” her station demands to know, and when handsome, soft-spoken John Bubber (Andy Garcia) shows up to claim the laurel wreath--and the reward--everyone is appropriately gratified. Except, of course, a seriously disgruntled Bernie LaPlante.

In form and attitude, “Hero” wants to join the tradition of the amoral screwball farces of the late 1930s and early 1940s, where deception was the order of the day and no one had more scruples than they could afford. Preston Sturges worked this territory extensively (one of his films is even ironically titled “Hail the Conquering Hero”). But this “Hero” feels particularly like the Carole Lombard-starring “Nothing Sacred,” written by the impish Ben Hecht, where glib newspapermen turn a young woman thought to be battling a fatal disease into a celebrity before it is discovered that there is nothing wrong with her at all.

These films succeeded by carefully playing cynicism against sentimentality, and the problem with “Hero” is that none of its elements, and especially not Stephen Frears’ direction, is up to that kind of a delicate balancing act. While Frears, a top-drawer director whose best work has included such icy productions as “The Grifters” and “Dangerous Liaisons,” has no difficulty with the darkly satirical parts of “Hero,” the more heart-tugging sections seem to leave him totally at a loss.

The result is a film that goes in and out of emotional focus as its tone wavers from sureness to awkwardness. Its best scenes are its most biting ones, like LaPlante’s genuine irritation at what a pain in the neck it is to go searching for survivors on a downed airplane. However, when it comes to the Frank Capra-esque good feeling engendered by what a fine hero John Bubber seems to be, “Hero” acts almost embarrassed about the scenes it is showing.

This uncertainty affects all the performances, which are personal bests for none of the film’s trio of principals. Davis, coming off one of her strongest appearances in “A League of Their Own,” never seems to find a believable focus for Gale Gayley, and the very able Garcia is similarly uneasy as the hero who never was.

“Hero’s” best star performance is Hoffman’s, who has the benefit of the script’s sharpest lines, but his frequently amusing work as the whiny compulsive liar is also uneven. Exciting in some places, flat in others, it is at times uncomfortably derivative of his Ratso Rizzo in “Midnight Cowboy,” a comparison the actor has admitted to understandable worries about. Better served by the film are two of its minor roles, Kevin J. O’Connor as Chucky, the self-obsessed cameraman, and an uncredited Chevy Chase as Gayle’s strictly business boss.

Despite its uncertainty, however, “Hero” (rated PG-13) never totally loses its fascination. Its sarcastic examination of the mechanics of hero building and hero worship, and its bemused attitude about how easily we are manipulated by imagery, all give it a certain amount of bite. Its teeth could have been a lot more effective, but we’re happy to see that it has any at all.

‘Hero’

Dustin Hoffman: Bernie LaPlante

Geena Davis: Gale Gayley

Andy Garcia: John Bubber

Joan Cusack: Evelyn

Kevin J. O’Connor Chucky

Released by Columbia Pictures. Director Stephen Frears. Producer Laura Ziskin. Executive producer Joseph M. Caracciolo. Screenplay David Webb Peoples, based on a story by Laura Ziskin & Alvin Sargent and David Webb Peoples. Cinematographer Oliver Stapleton. Editor Mick Audsley. Costumes Richard Hornung. Music George Fenton. Production design Dennis Gassner. Art director Leslie McDonald. Set decorator Nancy Haigh. Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (uses of strong language).