King of California (2007)

Note des utilisateurs:

6.8/10   

Réalisateur:

Mike Cahill

Scénariste:

Mike Cahill (written by)

Release Date:

12 septembre 2007 (France)

Genre:

Comedie

Accroche:

We're All Searching for Something ...

Plot:

An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia.

Plot Keywords:

Daughter | Father | Quest | Southern California | Unconscious

Avis des utilisateurs:

Douglas dives for doubloons.

Ensemble

Michael Douglas	...	Charlie
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Miranda
Willis Burks II	...	Pepper
Laura Kachergus	...	Rita
Paul Lieber	...	Doug
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Kelly
Anne L. Nathan	...	Applebee's Manager (as Anne Nathan)
Arthur Santiago	...	McDonald's Manager
Ashley Greene	...	McDonald's Customer
Ian Hopps	...	Boy
Anna Khaja	...	Officer Contreras
Will Rothhaar	...	Security Guard
Annie O'Donnell	...	Greeter
Greg Davis Jr.	...	Joseph
Jeanie Hackett	...	Teacher

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, mature thematic elements and brief drug references.

Durée:

93 min | Canada:96 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais | Espagnol

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Son:

Dolby Digital

Classification:

Canada:PG | Germany:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42631) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/12

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Millennium Films

Anecdotes:

The screenplay written by Michael Cahill was entered into the 2004 American Zoetrope Screenwriting contest and though didn't win, was a finalist.

Goofs:

Continuity: The headrests in the Volvo keep changing from the old 1985 and earlier style, to the more squat 1986 and later style. This is due to the fact that two of the cars were used throughout the movie, one of which broke down during filming.

Guillemet:

Miranda: [first lines - narration] Technically what happened wasn't my fault. I'm a minor, I'm not responsible for my actions. Technically.
[alarm sounds, everyone runs]
Miranda: But these things should be taken on a case-by-case basis. In our case, I've always been the responsible party. Someone had to look out for him.

Movie Connections:

References "JAG" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Let's Pretend There's A Moon

Douglas dives for doubloons.

Time has a way of passing us by without us even noticing. Like crackpot Charlie's old house, surrounded on all sides by a new housing development, the world in which we used to live disappears little by little until we finally realise we no longer have a place in it. If it bothers us too much, we can timidly accept the inevitable, throw a rope around a convenient light fitting and kick and choke our way out of the world, or we can embrace who we are and the world in which we really belong and bow out with a last hurrah…

Michael Douglas isn't always convincing as a straight actor, but he's quite an accomplished and under-appreciated comic actor who perfectly nails the role of Charlie, eccentric father to 16-year-old Miranda who has been forced to leave school and take a job at MacDonald's in order to keep the crumbling house in which Charlie was born while he spends a period in a mental institution following a failed suicide bid. It would have been easy to play over the top, but Douglas manages to communicate Charlie's seemingly misplaced enthusiasm for a pointless cause and his outlook on life that has him believing, as his despairing daughter points out, that the world is there for his entertainment. If a character like Charlie is well written the viewer can't help but root for him, no more how absurd his quest may seem.

Evan Rachel Wood who, at the age of 20 has more than 20 film credits to her name holds up well against Douglas as his exasperated but loving daughter, which is just as well because this pair pretty much have to carry the film between them. There's something of Drew Barrymore about her, although Wood is a more accomplished actor. While the script doesn't contain many belly laughs, the film is a gently amusing study of what boil down to fairly mundane ingredients: the need to stay true to yourself and your dreams, etc., and is worth 90 minutes of anybody's time.