The Last Movie I Saw

I always liked Mel Gibson, right up to some of the off-screen comments around the time of Passion of the Christ seemed to launch him into full-bore craziness. Like a lot of people, I've found it difficult to separate his work from his increasingly obnoxious behavior, but I was willing to give his latest movie The Beaver the benefit of the doubt. The idea that a severely depressed man might need a surrogate to communicate with the rest of the world, even a puppet, seemed to have some promise as a dramatic premise, and up to a point, the movie is pretty good. But unfortunately, it ultimately goes over the top in execution, which I did not expect from director Jodie Foster (who I think of as more thoughtful than run-of-the-mill Hollywood types). Gibson is actually pretty good at building a sympathetic portrayal, and I found it easy to suspend my disbelief in relation to the whole Beaver as spokesman idea; I found it much more difficult to accept most of the components of the subplot revolving around the Gibson character's oldest son. When things take a badly telegraphed ugly turn at the climax, I lost any lingering sympathy for the story. It's weird, but even though I can't fault Gibson for the film's failure, it will be hard not to associate it with his ongoing career tailspin. I imagine few would accept him at this point in a more comedic role, but maybe that would've been a better choice at this point for rehabilitation. Oh well.