Review of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009) by Jan O — 05 Mar 2010

John Krasinski, who most people know as Jim from The Office, makes his writing and directing debut with this adaptation of a collection of short stories by David Foster Wallace. While it's not entirely successful, his Brief Interviews With Hideous Men is a debut that proves he's got more on his mind than just to be remembered for his TV work.

In the movie, grad student Sara (Julianne Nicholson) is doing a project to try and understand the man's perspective, by conducting the titular brief interviews. There isn't much of an overarching plot to speak of, but what there is serves mostly as a frame story for the interviews.

I haven't read Wallace's book, but I think large chunks of the interviews are pretty closely transcribed from the stories themselves, and some of the dialogue sounds somewhat awkward coming out of the character's mouths.

Overall, the movie is definitely uneven, with some scenes just basically falling flat, and it can be difficult at times to figure out what exactly the whole thing is trying to say. That being said, there are a few really good scenes, including a knockout sequence in which one subject (Frankie Faison) tells the story of his father's career as a bathroom attendant in a fancy hotel, then gets up midway through and confront's his memory head-on, talking directly to his father (Malcolm Goodwin), who defends his life choice because it "put food on the table.

" Another memorable part has Christopher Meloni as a jerk businessman, explaining to fellow jerk businessman Denis O'Hare a story about a woman "with tits" who was ditched by her boyfriend at the airport.

The two of them then enter the memory, watching the events unfold around them. Some of the scenes that work well seem like they belong more on stage than screen, but they remain the film's most memorable and interesting parts.

While it doesn't all work, there's enough here to make it worth checking out.