Okay, so I'm a bit of a crybaby. I admit it. I even cry buckets at those commercials they play during the Olympics...you know, like THIS ONE. Damn you Morgan Freeman and your velvety voice of dramatic tear-causing power!!
Ahem. So, when I say that a movie makes me cry, it may not seem like much, but in my defense, it has been a hell of a long time since I cried at a movie. I guess I've just been watching way too many zombie/samurai/sea monster/demon baby movies. Regardless, the non-crying streak was broken with "Special", a movie that kicked my legs out from under me and left me bruised and broken, but yet, in some strange way, afterwards I appreciated my life and all of its craziness just a little bit more after watching this movie. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a truly fantastic film is one that either changes your life, alters your reality, or challenges you to handle it.
Michael Rapaport is just...god, he's incredible. He plays a parking lot attendant who enters a drug trial. Unfortunately, (fortunately?) for him, the drug has quite a few out-of-this-world side effects...side effects that lead Rapaport's character to assume the mantle of superhero, with disastrous (glorious?) results. This film is truly all about his performance, without his total commitment to getting the living shite kicked out of him, the film would be nothing. It's his earnestness, his never-ending hope of being something more than just a regular schmuck, that drives the movie, making you watch as he gets repeatedly thrown to the wall again and again.
My only problem with them film is that as the credits rolled, I wanted more. But I have to be happy with what I got, because the movie was made for peanuts, and it's amazing that the filmmakers were able to do what they did at all. This movie is going to be filed under "movies that made the sun shine a bit brighter" in my collection. Check it:
