Susan Granger’s review of “TRIXIE”
With Robert Altman as his mentor/producer, Alan Rudolph is truly an experimental film-maker and, as with any innovator, he has some hits (“Choose Me,” “Afterglow”) and misses (“Breakfast of Champions,” “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle”). Unfortunately, “Trixie” – an attempt at screwball comedy-turned-film noir – is one of the latter. Oscar nominee for “Breaking the Waves” and “Angela’s Ashes,” Emily Watson plays the title role of a quirky, gum-chewing undercover casino security guard-turned-detective. It’s supposed to be cute that she’s confused and mangles metaphors like “I’m a little green behind the ears,” “You can’t just sit there like a sore thumb,” “Take the bull by the tail,” “Fish or get off the pot,” “I’ve an ace up my hole” etc. but this malaprop device soon grows very, very, very tiresome. Trixie stumbles on a porn racket and a political cover-up involving a swaggering, corrupt State Senator, played by Nick Nolte. Supposedly, all of the Senator’s garbled, inane dialogue is culled verbatim from actual political slogans but that doesn’t make the double-talking gibberish easier to listen to. Credit Alan Rudolph for lining up stellar talent, because Lesley Ann Warren plays a sleazy aging showgirl who mysteriously disappears with Brittany Murphy as a sleazy wannabe starlet, while Dermot Mulroney is a womanizing gambler and Will Patton is a sneering, scheming developer. Nathan Lane is a boozy lounge comedian who does celebrity impressions and spews lines like “We’re all tap dancers in the canoe of life.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Trixie” is a tortuous, trivial 3. Don’t be tricked into spending your entertainment dollar for this self-indulgent garbage.
