Take The City And Run

Directed by Stephen Hopkins, 2004
viewed October 11, 2005 [DVD]
IMDb listing

Peter Sellers, as portrayed in the HBO film The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers, was a man gifted with the ability to create new and extreme identities for himself, yet unable to maintain his own. Perhaps the conceit is nothing new, but the film is executed in such a way that the concept seems fresher than it actually is.

The explicit goal of the film is, as confirmed by the filmmakers themselves in the short making-of doc that accompanies the movie on DVD, to play out Sellers’ life as if it is a Sellers movie— a surreal mix of zany comedy involving slapstick, broad comedy, and puns-a-plenty, with dark undercurrents of melodrama and insecurity. Perhaps the key component for replicating a Peter Sellers vehicle is a star capable of utterly losing himself in the role and, since Peter Sellers is sadly no longer available to play himself, it’s fortunate that Geoffrey Rush was. It’s rare that the lead actor in a biopic gives an expert impersonation that so ably doubles as a skilled performance, but Rush pulls it off, perhaps because he plays the part as if that was how Sellers approached his own life— like he was impersonating a person with an actual personality of his own and hoping others would be fooled.

Unfortunately, despite the skilled performances from Rush and the supporting cast, and the interesting ways the filmmakers visualize the seeming lunacy that was Peter Sellers’ life, the movie is not truly all that revealing. The idea seems to never get beyond, “Peter Sellers was insecure and troubled. Look at how crazy his life was!” There are hints that his mother sent him down his odd path, but the surface is barely scratched and we’re left to simply gaze in wonder at the mess that was Peter Sellers’ life.

Just a quick note: Stanley Tucci seemed a bit of an odd choice to play Stanley Kubrick, but the brief scenes that touch on the director’s relationship with Sellers will likely leave you wanting more.