Two Girls and a Guy . Tucson Weekly . 05-03-98

Two Girls and a Guy

DIRECTED BY: James Toback

REVIEWED: 05-03-98

James Toback wrote the screenplay for this playful, racy, one-set movie, but much of the dialogue and action was improvised. It shows: Not only does Robert Downey Jr. have an extended scene babbling weird noises in front of a mirror, but there are times when Two Girls and A Guy comes to a complete standstill, or heads off at a 90-degree angle for no clear reason. Toback's smart, machine-gun-fast dialogue, which abruptly kicks in whenever the actors run out of improvisation, is so good it left me wishing Toback had spent more time developing the story. Hovering over the movie like a bad smell is the question of why the two female leads, Heather Graham and Natasha Wagner (the most vital and engaging of the three), even bother to stick around Downey's studio apartment after they learn he's been lying to each of them for 10 months. We get an answer, but not soon enough. Toback does have some challenging things to say about the battle between sexual fidelity and emotional reality, but he hasn't said enough here, and the film feels terribly unfinished. Send it back! And while you're at it, rewrite the cop-out ending!

--Woodruff

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