=F 7 = ” 1996 April bie Pre: Press I5 Flirting with Disaster The essence of the Greek Family film? by Joyce Robinson Family relationships are always fertile ground for story-telling. This is one more dysfunctional family film to add to the’ genre, along such flicks as Parenthood and, more recently, Home for the Holidays. There will always be tales | about odd families and the even odder things they do together. Including road trips with bizarre incitdents—usually the result of poor communication. The challenge is to make each new story original, appealing, and in the case of Flirting with Disaster, funny. The focus would get lost ifthe film did not manage to express some deep universal truaths— find your own in this flick, I’m not going to tell you what to think: So what’s a poor lad to do? After four months, Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) is still unable to commit a name to his child. He figures this lack of commitment is merely because he was adopted. He feels incomplete, like he is missing a part of his identity. His wife and family don’t understand his dilemma. He goes to the agency where he was adopted in an attempt to determine his roots. This leads to a bunch of comic events. Most incidents occuring during the road trip that follows as Mel takes a | trek to find his real parents. First, finding | the wrong family, due to computer error—what else? Then they go on to the right family. Of course they must collect people : along this Quest for Belonging. His fellow questors include a psychologist in training (Téa Leoni), from the adoption agency; and a same-sex couple, who just happen to be Federal Agents (watch for it, plot twist) with the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms. When he finally does find his biological parents, he is assaulted with the fact that his parents are pretty screwed up individuals—which is, | oddly, surprising. His biological mother Adopted Mom and Dad, kind Cop, Mel and baby (Lily Tomlin) admits to having been on LSD during his gestation. His two “hippie” parents unequivocally admit to being drug chemists now and then, and that they have spent time in prison for this “victimless” crime. Then there is his “new” brother...who feels no animosity towards his “new” sibling. The complexity in this tale, mostly involving the miscommunication inherent in family relationships, leaves the audience satisfied with no questions unanswered, just, well, with different answers. Added into the fray is the loss of romance in Mel and Nancy’s (Patricia Arquette) relationship. Plus Mel’s problem with oral sex. Yeah, there is a lot of sex in this film, but it’s not entirely gratuitous. Some of it actually has a place in the story being told. Clocking in at ninety-three minutes, there is a lot contained within this film, but it’s ‘all interesting, all worthy of seeing. Unless you are an uptight prig uncomfortable with the mere mention of intercourse (sexual or otherwise) I can recommend this film to you. Ben Stiller has a skilful comedic touch. If you’ve seen his work on television, you know what I mean. He was a member and writer with SNL and can also be seen in the current release [f Lucy Fell. You may also remember him as the not-so-evil media whore in Reality Bites. While Flirting with Disaster isn’t quite as Generation Angst it will speak to you, even if all you do is recognize that your family can fight like his. theatre is lost Antigone, Frederic Wood Theatre by Rachel Young “A fortune won is often a fortune missed.” I miss my fortune. I have been spoiled by memorable and timeworthy performances by Studio 58 and Pink Ink Theatre. I realized my fortune was missed when I found myself unhappy during the opening act of Antigone at UBC’s Frederic Wood Theatre, which closed March 23: I’m not certain if my disappointment lies with director John Wright’s work, or if it originated with the 1948 adaptation by Bertolt Brecht used in this performance. A highly acclaimed and clever theorist, writer, and director, Brecht is synonymous with his own coined effect of audience alienation. Two journalists (Shannon Woelk and Raugauhann Yu) act as the strophes and antistrophes, which segregates the audience from the characters on stage. In Sophocles’ plays, the strophes and antistrophes are sung by the chorus, conspicuously absent from this modern day production. The first and foremost aspect of this stage play that was hard to grasp was the adaptation into the Bosnian Wars. Sophocles would undoubtedly recoil at the thought to include modern things such as helicopters, rifles, tape recorders, and a female reporter. Things that we take for granted in the wars of today are spilled out on the set of a Greek play about the love and dedication of a sister to her murdered brother. But alas, the play was performed with Antigone (Camille Sullivan), sister-daughter to Oedipus the King, ‘Closing out the Forum... Melissa Etheridge by Robin Perelle & Dia Richardson “T guess I’m doing something right, they seem to be catching on.” Melissa Etheridge winked at her bandmates and shifted her guitar on her hips. Then she swung into yet another set, bringing her special blend of sexual chemistry and genuine warmth to her final appearance—and the final rock show ever—at the Montréal Forum. Far from assuming the distant role of the superstar she has become, Etheridge needed no rehearsed lines to connect with this crowd. With her simple lyrics . and simple messages of personal truth, passion and tolerance, she put on a powerful performance without any special staging effects. Especially convincing was her rendition of ‘You Could Have Been Me.’ With just her voice, a spotlight, and a . fist raised in pride and defiance, she held the audience, lodging a plea for | understanding in a judgmental and homophobic society. ~