Boy Does What? And Do We Care?
Dateline: 09/22/00
The
Tao of Steve isn't going to change your life. In fact, it turns out
that it's not even going to help you pick up girls. It is, however, a pretty
funny romantic comedy with an independent twist. It's a boy meets girl, boy
gets girl, boy dumps his married lover, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again
type of movie.
Based on the true life of director Jenniphr Goodman's roommate Duncan North, The Tao of Steve chronicles a few weeks in the life of Santa Fe resident and kindergarten teacher Dex, played by Donal Logue. Ten years after college graduation, Dex is still the same in spirit, if not in body. His primary motivations are card playing and getting girls. Until he meets Syd. A former classmate, Syd, as played by Greer Goodman, is in town to build the set for the Santa Fe opera. By a stroke of fate, she and Dex have to commute together. Dex falls in love, but Syd stays skeptical, having already encountered Dex's philosophies of love in college. Not until a camping trip and a sincere confession does she begin to let him into her life.
As you can tell, it's not the plot that drives this film. What makes this movie amusing is the dialogue. With stunning performances by the entire cast, particularly Goodman, Logue, and Ayelet Kaznelson as Dex's married lover, the scenes feel extraordinarily real, as do the relationships among the characters. The progression of events is set in a low-key and natural order that almost mimics the beautiful Santa Fe setting. We want Dex and Syd to get together, we know they will, what we're interested in is what they'll have to say about it. In an era of unfunny Hollywood relationship movies, such as Whipped, it is a relief to actually like the characters in the movie, however misguided their philosophy at first.
Directed by Jenniphr Goodman and Teodoro Maniaci
Produced by Anthony Bregman
Written by Duncan North, Greer Goodman and Jenniphr Goodman
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA: Rated R for language and some drug use.
Runtime: USA:87
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (Technicolor)
Sound Mix: Dolby
Certification: USA:R
picture courtesty of Sony Picture Classics
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