Multiple Sarcasms Timothy Hutton gives a great performance of a man who is tired of his work and married life, and is driven to work out who he is by writing a play. It is a process that is riddled with angst, his creative self attempting to emerge in spite of the inevitable obstacles, in the form of his wife, who he fears "doesn't get him," to his guilt about striking out for himself in an authentic way as possibly harming his gifted and appealing daughter, his job as an architect, which ceases to satisfy him creatively. His unkempt, "just gotten out of bed" look, complete with five o'clock shadow, hair with a will of its own and rumpled clothes give a physical presence to his discontent and yearning for something more. At times, there are surrealistic scenes, reminiscent of "The Singing Detective," (which are inspired, and for me some of the best moments of the film) where he re-writes interactions that had painful ramifications for him, e.g. his argument with his wife while they were visiting her family for Christmas, and his well-intentioned but maladroit attempt to come to his daughter's aid during a crisis at school. The other actors give natural and resonant performances, including Dana Delany with her cool, porcelain sadness as his wife, and Mira Sorvino, the wise, funny and vulnerable best friend (an iconic representation of every man's "anima"), India Ennenga as the precocious and lovable daughter, and Mario Van Peebles, playing against his usual type, as his gay friend (he gives a monologue that is so effective that it would be a good audition piece). Stockard Channing was perfectly cast as the agent, industry and worldly-wise, funny and charming. It is an ode to Manhattan as well as a right-brained, intuitive look into a man's struggle to become his authentic self through self-expression. At times he appears childlike, selfish, depressed, even crazed, and yet he is doing what he has to do to make life bearable. This brave gem of a film presents a classic view of the struggle of a creative person, highs, lows, absurdity and revelations. The images captured by his daughter and superimposed with artfully free cursive reminded me of some of the work of Corita Kent, projected into a new medium, for a new century. The music was well-chosen, beautifully performed, fit the narrative and emphasized the emotion and themes.

I guess it all depends on what one brings to a movie. If I were only going to watch this film once, I would miss most of it. On a film binge, long vacation, I watched 2 other films of other genres before I got to _Multiple Sarcasms_. I wouldn't classify it as a comedy and I got unsorted mush. I even stopped in the middle and went to bed. The next morning I decided to see it through. I will watch it again. Scenes of exceptional beauty, characters that are real, believable (uh, is this a movie or did I get into somebody else's head). Terms one learned at school, well, for example about theater -- for example, "vraisemblance" -- help to "defamiliarize the text". We may have seen movies with bits, tropes, business, cutting and editing like this before, but this one is still original, subtle, and inviting with sufficient refractions with stage and staging to place us both inside it and outside it. Very near the end of the film, the writer places himself as an actor on the stage, then also to one side as editor/actor critiquing the writer/actor. This was not over done. Life into stage or film is very strange and wonderful. There are characters playing the role of audience members whom we have gotten to know during the course of the film. The music was excellent, the scenes, the character development of supporting characters was fine (getting good and drunk with "Eric"). We could probe the messiness of the protagonist's life "as life" with the "vraisemblance" probe (Living out of a suitcase? His dwelling was no suitcase.) By the end of the film we have seen a man's life shuddering into chaos as he takes up writing, and the miracle of the process is that a beautiful coherence emerges. He has become more grounded, centered and real. The process works! I should write a play. This is pretty good film alchemy. India Ennenga's "Liz" was radiant.

I was really looking forward to "Multiple Sarcasms". With a story about a man, basically at a mid-life crisis, who is looking for happiness in writing and in films, I thought I could really relate. But for a film about playwriting at its heart, it's rather poorly written. Many scenes telling us things that we already know. The first third of the film was introducing us to the main characters, over and over again. But I got everything I needed to know about the characters in the first scene so the rest just became a lesson in boredom.It was supposed to be about Gabriel discovering that his happiness is rooted in writing, but then out of nowhere the main story became about crossing the line of infidelity. Not writing at all. Boredom, crossing into confusion just becomes frustration. Even with the many underrated actors, "Multiple Sarcasms" is not worth the frustration and boredom.

My wife and I just couldn't muster the energy and will to watch a movie about a man who has everything (wife, daughter and job), and is in a rather enviable position overall. And his problem is... well, we couldn't figure out. He's bored? Doesn't "like his life"? So, let's make a movie about it, shall we?The premise to this movie is so preposterous, that his audience may be left completely unsympathetic to the main character, or even less sympathetic to the whole enterprise that made the movie possible.The saving grace of this movie is the good directing - there's a pinch of comedy to give a genre direction to the movie, but apart that, the characters seem rather genuine. Sadly, the whole plot is stillborn and worthless.