Central Standard Time . Austin Chronicle . 03-30-98

Central Standard Time

DIRECTED BY: Scott Large

REVIEWED: 03-30-98

Conspiracy theorizing is fashionable stuff these days: It's been effectively utilized as either outlandish improbability turned wonderfully dry humor (Gerry Daloney's "Hey pal, did I overhear you say you've got a friend that's missing?" character in Slacker) or substantiated fact (Waco: The Rules of Engagement). The combination of the two, though, in Scott Large's and James Murray's Central Standard Time results in a boorishly taxing and longwinded rant. The film's cast of twentysomething militia characters treat the most incredible of international governmental arrangements as fact and then spew them out without the slightest hint of self-deprecation for their collective inability to see that the simplest explanation might be the best. So instead of dialogue, the result is more of a drawn-out collection of diatribes, and they are the toughest kind of diatribes to sit through because, well, the joke isn't funny anymore. Throw in gratuitous gun usage and some sexuality (in fact, Eddie Daniels' innate lustiness is the most interesting thing on screen from about minute five to minute 25) with a thin narrative that erupts with a predictable apocalyptic flair and the project is complete. And that's really the weakness of Central Standard Time, not that its subject matter is based on fashion and fashion is inherently transitory, but that it's just not a remotely interesting story.

--Michael Bertin

Film Vault Suggested Links
The Edge
The World is Not Enough
Passion in the Desert

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