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Anyone
wondering what happened to Rob Morrow after Northern Exposure
(which earned him two Emmy and three Golden Globe nominations)
and a memorable turn in the critically acclaimed Quiz Show
will be happy to hear the actor is still in the business. Maze
marks Morrow's first feature-film venture behind the camera as
both a writer and director, but he's the star here, too.
Morrow
plays Lyle Maze, a New York-based artist who suffers from both
Tourette's Syndrome and Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder.
As you can imagine, this causes several career problems,
as demonstrated in one scene where he accidentally splashes a
nude model like she was one of Jackson Pollock's canvases.
Perpetually disheveled and dirty, Lyle's socially
inhibiting diseases have created a cavernous divide between him
and his intolerant father (Robert Hogan), who needs a heart
transplant but won't dream of accepting blood from his slightly
unusual son. As a
result, Lyle is one self-deprecating dude.
Lyle's
best friend Mike (Craig Sheffer) is a doctor who keeps getting
his buddy to try new, experimental drugs to control his
disruptive behavior, but Lyle is afraid the medication will
affect his art. Suddenly,
Mike decides to join a program called Doctors Without Borders,
which sends him on a seven-month assignment to Burundi before
his wife Callie (Laura Linney, You
Can Count on Me) can tell him she's pregnant.
In
Mike's absence, Lyle and Callie grow closer and closer, but not
really in a romantic way. She
tries to fix him up on a date and even poses nude for him (and
we get to see it all), while he makes sure she's eating properly
and doing those nutty breathing exercises.
But what will happen when Mike gets back?
Will Lyle somehow betray the friend who has stuck by his
side despite numerous social problems?
While
his performance doesn't exactly measure up to Robin Tunney's
turn in Niagara, Niagara, Morrow's clever direction is
enough to warrant a trip to the theatre.
This isn't the typical pretentious effort from an
actor-turned-director like we've recently seen in The
Anniversary Party, and it's probably a much more honest
look at the disease(s) than we're used to seeing on the screen
(much more subtle than Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets,
anyway). There are no crazy silverware fits, but Lyle does constantly
pick at stuff and rub his forehead on a bunch of things.
The
technical highlight here are Lyle's "episodes," which
are filmed with a digital camera mounted to his head.
He'll be in the middle of a conversation, and all of a
sudden, you see a grainy shot of the sidewalk, after which Lyle
tries to pretend to be tying his shoes. Morrow, who has previously tackled a Tourette's role, has
already directed a short called The Silent Alarm and just
recently filmed an episode of Oz which will air in 2002.
Maze's co-writer is Bradley White, who recently
appeared with Morrow in the made-for-television movie, Jenifer.
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