Rating: 3/10
The Beaver. Not eager ... Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson fail to make the most of their (human) roles.
IS HOLLYWOOD ready to forgive Mel Gibson? Not on the basis of this comeback effort from friend and supporter Jodie Foster.
Gibson has been laying low after headline-grabbing outbursts of recent years: notably, an anti-Semitic rant while being arrested for drink-driving, then foul-mouthed phone messages to his former girlfriend. And when he did turn up briefly at the recent Cannes Film Festival, alongside Foster, he notably didn't utter a word.
Here, the Australian Oscar winner is seemingly given the chance to channel his trials and tribulations, through Walter: a depressed (with a capital D), washed-up chief executive of a toy company who rediscovers himself via a hand puppet, through which he speaks with a Michael Caine accent.
Foster, who's been by Gibson's side throughout his public downfall, directs and stars as Walter's long-suffering wife. A subplot, where their eldest son, Porter (Yelchin), writes papers for fellow students, while besotted by the top-scorer (Lawrence), also vies for our attention. The idea being, presumably, that once we've tired of Walter's self-indulgent, middle-aged grumps, we'll be lifted by his son's teenage response to his father's behaviour. ''I'll never be like him,'' and all that.
Sadly, none of this works. The reasons for Walter's drink-fuelled depression are never explained. The pairing of Gibson and Foster - their first since 1994's Maverick - is welcome but woefully unconvincing. And, although Gibson does a reasonable enough job with the role he's given, one is left with the feeling the man he is playing is tiresome, nothing more.
Why on earth didn't they do more, given Gibson's public demise, rather than vaguely imitate life with so-called art? This is a wholly wasted opportunity for Gibson - and a disappointing misfire from Foster.
STARRING: MEL GIBSON, JODIE FOSTER, JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ANTON YELCHIN
RATED M