Accidental Love, 2015.
Directed by David O. Russell (as Stephen Greene).
Starring Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Marsden, Catherine Keener, Tracy Morgan and James Brolin.
SYNOPSIS:
A clueless politician falls in love with a small-town waitress whose erratic behaviour is caused by a nail stuck in her head.
Originally titled Nailed and shot way back in 2008, this has been a project plagued by serious financial difficulties and problems. David O. Russell (The Fighter, American Hustle) – billed here as ‘Stephen Greene’ left the project in 2010 and the film was subsequently finished without his involvement. Seven years from shooting to cinema release? That’s a pretty torturous ER wait…
Which sort of connects with aspects of the – undeniably muddled – story. Focusing on small town waitress Alice’s (Biel) accident with a nail through the skull while at a dinner with fiancé Scott (James Marsden), Accidental Love highlights the undeniably unsavoury aspects of federal America’s attitude towards healthcare (and post 2010, with efforts to block the central principles of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare). Unable to pay the $150,000 operation costs, Alice begins to feel the effect of a loose nail wedged in the brain. Violent mood-swings, emotional disturbances and hyper-sexual behaviour all become a part of her repertoire. Hilarity, as they say, ensues.
Based on the novel Sammy’s Hill by Kristin Gore (daughter of Al), the film attempts to capture the absurdity that lies at the heart of the public health arguments. While I have not read the book and cannot comment on how successfully it deals with these issues, the film at least tries. In effect, there is a worthy enough satirical story running through the panto-ish scenes which have a kind of tragi-comic effect to them.
Gyllenhaal – particularly after viewing him in manic performances in Nightcrawler and Enemy – produces a disconcertingly broad slapstick kind of outing in keeping with the comedy of the film. Biel too, brings an amusing enough showing as the neurologically troubled Alice.
Good support also comes from Catherine Keener and Tracy Morgan, while James Brolin took over from James Caan, who reportedly left the project back in 2008 when put off by an alarmingly protracted death scene…
All of which makes it something of a shame that the film’s difficulties didn’t get sorted out. There is an important film in here somewhere, it just takes a bit of looking.
Apparently Russell left for financial reasons – the main ones being that the chief financier didn’t provide any money. Bit of an issue there, and the story behind the film is probably more entertaining for most people than the semi-finished product, with all of these Hollywood deals and propositions getting played out. According to Russell the film got shut down a total of nine times, putting it pretty firmly on the critical.
Still, at least, like many without the funds for treatment, it didn’t get turned away at the hospital to suffer at the roadside. But on balance, this is why films as well as hospitals need financing, and more than anything else, the attention and (Obama)care to be dealt with properly…
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer
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