Strong Cast Left Adrift in The Last of Robin Hood
By Joel Wicklund in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 6, 2014 6:00PM
Quantrell Colbert/Samuel Goldwyn Films
Maybe the opening credits give a clue why The Last of Robin Hood doesn't quite work. On one hand, one of the film's executive producers is Todd Haynes, the exceptional independent writer-director of movies like Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine and I'm Not There.
On the other hand, one of the production companies is Lifetime Films. And despite adding "films" to their brand, this is indeed the same Lifetime behind television shows like Dance Moms and made-for-TV movies like Flowers in the Attic.
Are these sensibilities in any way compatible?
Haynes served in the same producing capacity for Quinceañera, the 2006 Sundance award winner that was the previous feature from the writing/directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. So we'll chalk his participation up to helping out some filmmaking pals, as you'll find none of the risk-taking or artful style of Haynes' own work in The Last of Robin Hood. But the movie is also just a little too good to lump in with Lifetime's infamous helpings of celebrity exploitation (they're bringing The Brittany Murphy Story to their channel this weekend)—though this true Hollywood story was certainly the stuff of endless gossip and headlines in its time.
Kevin Kline plays Errol Flynn, the actor as legendary for his lifestyle of drinking, drugs and womanizing as his movie work. Already accused (and legally acquitted) of sexual encounters with underage girls earlier in his career, Flynn fell for 15-year-old Beverly Aadland near the end of his short life. His considerable charm won the girl over easily, and Flynn got the teenager's mother to accept their relationship by promising to further her daughter's career. Having the ambitious stage mom as part of his entourage, the fading Flynn hoped to avoid scandal, though really only dodged it through his premature death.
Kline is 16 years older than Flynn when he died at 50, but Flynn's years of hard living made him look much older anyway. And Kline certainly bears some resemblance to the actor. More importantly, he effectively conveys Flynn's special charisma, as well as the quiet depths of sadness in his self-destructive path. As Aadland's mother, Susan Sarandon has the most interesting part and does the most with it. Sarandon actually manages to elicit a little sympathy for this pathetic woman living her dreams through her daughter and ready to cash in on the controversy of her underage relationship.
As the aspiring actress with little talent, Dakota Fanning delivers an appropriately understated performance. Now 20, the former child star has been honing her craft in some very good independent movies lately, including Night Moves from earlier this year, and The Motel Life from late 2013.
As someone pushed into the spotlight, and too young to understand it, Fanning shows the right balance of youthful excitement at the thrills and quiet resentment over losing control over her own life. The only problem is that she played this type of role quite recently (and in a much better movie), as Cherie Currie opposite Kristen Stewart's Joan Jett in the underrated The Runaways.
But three strong central performances can't overcome the movie's complete lack of a point of view. Sarandon's character, recounting past events for a ghostwriter, becomes the default lead, but there really isn't a main character here. Nor is there enough of a balance to call this an ensemble piece. Instead, the script switches focus merely to follow the chain of events, leaving characters underdeveloped and the movie with no real tone or theme. "This is simply what happened," Glatzer and Westmoreland seem to say, which is a great approach for journalism...but not so much for drama.
With the movie's flat visual composition, that leaves nothing to grab onto except the performances. And in the better scenes, that's enough. But it's a shame the filmmakers didn't dig a little deeper emotionally, not to play up the turbulent affair or subsequent scandal, but rather the supreme sadness that seems buried under the surface in every scene. There was a great, melancholy mood piece to mine from this material. But melancholy mood pieces probably don't play too well on Lifetime.
The Last of Robin Hood is now playing in limited release in the Chicagoland area