Whatever happened to Whit Stillman?

The reviews weren't exactly "poor." A little divided, which non-cookiecutter style will draw.

Had no problem w/ the guy playing Frank btw. From Miriam Bale's Slant review:

As noted in the press notes, this is the first film for Ryan Metcalf, who plays Violet's idiotic former beau. ("Do you mind if I try a version that's a little broad?" Stillman remembers Metcalf saying of the moment when the role clicked.) Stillman doesn't get a Chris Eigeman-type to play dumb because that would have been condescending. But the amateur playing broad comedy opens up some breathing room in Stillman's highly enunciated, dense comedy. The clash of styles in this film is bewildering and then disarming.

Yeah, I'm pretty fond of this one in fits and starts.

i didnt think he was bad, but i just felt like he was flailing around in his scenes, which were mostly unfunny

i think thats the directors fault btw.

sorry, I lol'd at him and other stuff

maybe it was more the movie's timing that i was responding to, i dunno

I remembered that 'golden oldie' too! Memorably atrocious even for a dance hit.

Stillman said that the "golden oldie" was going to be Cher's "Believe," but it was too expensive to license.

Would've made for a hysterically incongruous frat party soundtrack, tho.

I had forgotten what a hilarious monster Kate Beckinsale is in Disco. Also maybe the funniest and most pathetic Eigeman character.

Many of the club scenes were shot in the Loews movie palace in Jersey City, which I've been to several times now.

damsels in distress was super!

it's easy to do!

...

do the cha cha cha for two step.

and so on.

ah...cha-cha

<3 A Conversation With Whit Stillman About The Script Of 'Metropolitan'

Just last week listened to the Treatment interview with Stillman--good stuff.

One of the criticisms I get of the film is that all its energy goes out once Nick Smith leaves. I can see how people react that way, because you're getting a lot of the fun and comedy from Nick. A lot of these things, frankly, I did not catch as the writer of the script. People had to bring it to my attention.

I loved DID. Adam Brody fit perfectly in this world.

as did gerwig i thought! my liberal pc self might've blanched at brody on homosexuality if i hadn't heard the same thing for years from some of my older queer friends (see also paris hilton on grinder for that matter). was so happy to see dookie from the wire pop up in this, in some part of my brain it means 'he got out' like w/ michael on 90210 or randy on suburgatory.

and Wallace faked his own death and turned into a high school football star!

haha! as long as that little shit kenard doesn't pop up in anything.

DiD made me laugh a lot more than I thought it would. Pretty uneven, yes, but I think "the clash of styles in this film is bewildering and then disarming" pretty much sums up how I eventually felt. I want to watch it again, too, which is odd for this kind of movie.

The last twenty minutes are bewildering.

I'm not even sure why but i quite liked it too. It's oddly charming

I need to watch again to remember. Iirc it did lose its way and fumbled towards a resolution (which it didn't even really need). I was surprised the musical numbers weren't as effective as I thought they'd be.

Yes "oddly charming" was about how I was going to describe it, too. That, or charmingly surreal.

This is the sort of movie for which adverbs are redundant.

ha i haven't watched the last 20 minutes yet (wife wanted to go to sleep) but i'm loving this so far. really funny.

I loved it.

who can doubt that class and erudition have generally vanished from 'homosexual life'? and I haven't even seen Glee.

The march toward equality takes no prisoners. Except femmes.

Just got done with Metropolitan and now after six or so weeks can call myself a Stillman completest. How A-dorable was Carolyn Farina? "You really think I'm flat-chested?" Easily his least movie tho: as noted upthread the acting is uneven and the transitions suck.

Would Rank: Barcelona>The Last Days of Disco>>Damsels In Distress>>>Metropolitan

that rank cray

you nuts, metropolitan the platonic ideal of which the rest are shadows

ok, maybe that's not quite fair, last days of disco is kind of its own thing which over the years has been creeping ever closer to metropolitan in my estimation

I'm close to thinking DID is his best.

something about whit stillman breeds challops like tulips in may

I haven't seen LDoD since it came out, but with that in mind:

Barcelona > Metropolitan > Damsels In Distress > The Last Days of Disco

Barfelona

Metropolitenoutoften

Chris Eightoutoften

just had a very nice, semi-lengthy conversation with none other than T@ylor Nich0ls (unnece$$@ry g00glepr00fing)

super nice guy, talked a lot about whit and why whit never made it to the "big leagues"

shook my hand when he left and complimented me! A+ barroom chat, would hang with again

i haven't seen DiD but i am glad people are repping for barcelona which i mean i dunno if i was having a weird night or something but i completely loved it, whereas as great as metropolitan is i don't think i've ever had as much fun watching it as i've had reciting lines from it; it is me and writer friends' holy grail. i don't mean holy grail like the object of a quest.

i brought up barcelona and he rates it higher than metropolitan fwiw

dude. awesome.

my inveterate barfly ways finally paid off

he probably rates Barcelona higher cos he's the main character

Did you ask Nich0ls about UHB?

Does T4ylor Nich0ls talk like an ordinary guy?

that was the funny part, his voice and slight stutter are so distinctive, I was totally having flashbacks to metropolitan. it was cool how he and the bartenders were talking acting, one of them had done a lot of acting in Chicago and knew the Mamet regulars pretty well. they asked me who he was when he left, one had seen him in Barcelona but the other didn't know who he was.

he was in a "Murder, She Wrote" episode in the early nineties as a museum curator or something.

Good Grief, according to imdb, he was on "Murder, She Wrote" four times in the space of four years, playing a different character each time.

He also played Custer on an episode of "Dr. Quinn".