Review of The Brass Teapot (2012) by Paul W — 12 Sep 2013

THE BRASS TEAPOT: In this quirky dark comedy/moral fable, a struggling young couple discovers a magical teapot that rewards them with cash every time they hurt themselves, or indeed, whenever they are in close proximity to pain. You can guess where this is probably going, and it ain't pretty.

This is an incredibly compelling idea for a story, so it's kind of a shame that it's not just a bit better. The lovely rising star Juno Temple (ATONEMENT, KILLER JOE, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, ST. TRINIAN'S, YEAR ONE), and the lovably wacky Michael Angarano (Hell if I know) make for a believable, winning married couple, and they are backed up by supporting players who range from excellent (Jack MacBrayer) to downright embarrassing (Alexis Bledel). The whole story bears a surreal charm, a modern-day MONKEY'S PAW in many ways, and yet the script feels undercooked: it could have really used some tinkering to get just right, because one more time: WhatagreatfuckingideaforastoryIjustwishitwerebetter.

In spite of the flaws, though, the story contains some genuine humor and sadness. You sense that the 2 leads really love each other and are basically decent people, despite their gradual descent into Greed and Evil. You really want to see them make the right choice, even as they keep making the wrong ones (partly because the teapot keeps finding ways to tempt them). They come up with hilariously clever schemes to self-inflict pain (Brazilian wax, tattoos, S&M, dentistry without novocaine), but as the teapot "tires" of the usual, its payoff diminishes, and they must turn to increasingly desperate techniques, involving psychological pain, and inflicting pain on others.

But for every intriguing moral question in the plot, there is a howling misstep: for example, the "Hasidic Mafia" brothers who show up demanding the pot. (Perhaps it's best I don't say more about them.) Or the fact that the husband, ALREADY KNOWING THE POT'S MAGIC SECRET, then tries to see what he can fetch for it on "Antiques Roadshow" ON NATIONAL TV- tipping off every single possible person who might be looking for, you know, THAT TEAPOT THAT SPOUTS CASH. For every nuanced performance (such as that of Ms. Temple, who is so damn cute and charismatic I'll watch in anything), there is a cartoonish clunker, such as that of their brutish ex-jock trailer trash landlord, who might as well be named Biff Tannen. And the Chinese scholar who implores the couple to give him the pot, in order to finally destroy its inherent temptation to do Evil, simply fails to make much of an impression.

In the end, this is a fun, neat little film, even if the script, direction, and supporting performances don't always fully impress. Enjoy it for yourself. I give it a B.