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From: leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: MASS APPEAL
Message-ID: <1182@mtgzz.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Sep-85 14:45:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtgzz.1182
Posted: Thu Sep 19 14:45:15 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 05:51:09 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 42


                                MASS APPEAL
                      A film review by Mark R. Leeper

          Capsule review:  Well-produced and acted, but ultimately
     superficial story of a parish priest caught in the crossfire
     between the Church establishment and a liberal young deacon.
     Neither side really gets much chance to present its views.

     Jack Lemmon is an actor best known for comedy, but for several years he
has been playing dramatic roles.  In these, he has shown remarkable breadth
in his acting talent and has been able to impart a real intensity to the
characters he plays.  He has given moving performances in TRIBUTE and SAVE
THE TIGER and to a lesser extent in CHINA SYNDROME and MISSING.  He gives
one of these fine performances in MASS APPEAL, a film that could have been
much better, but was nonetheless well-acted and above average as a story.

     Lemmon plays a parish priest comfortable in his ways, a little overly
fond of drinking, who is given a rebellious and free-thinking deacon to
train for the priesthood.  At first he is appalled at the young man's
unconventional views, but not as appalled as the Monsignor (played by
Charles Durning) who wants the young man dismissed from the clergy.  Lemmon
is caught in the middle of the ensuing battle and forced to take sides.

     My big complaint with the film was that it had the potential to evolve
into a philosophical debate on the liberalization of the church.  I am not
asking it to be another INHERIT THE WIND or WALK IN THE SHADOW--that is a
bit much to ask.  But both sides have some valid reasons for their points of
view.  The young liberal would-be priest's ideas are only sparsely presented
and the Church establishment is portrayed as being motivated only by Church
politics.  Even INHERIT THE WIND is not sufficiently even-handed, but it is
miles better than MASS APPEAL, which just degenerates into a good guys
versus bad guys story, albeit well-acted.  I'll take a good guys versus good
guys battle over a car chase for excitement any day.

     Final rating for MASS APPEAL is a +1 (on the -4 to +4 scale).  It could
have been better.

					Mark R. Leeper
					...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper


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