Guy de Fraumeni’s Hollywod In The Hamptons

Fracture

What do you do when given two kinetic acting wizards going at each other in a too clever cat-and-mouse thriller? Well, kiddos, you do exactly what you do at an explosively entertaining Fourth of July fireworks display at the beach – you sit back and enjoy it. You gasp! You oooh! You aahhh! You are enthralled by the wonder of it all. While being bowled over by the consummate ol’ master craftsman, Anthony Hopkins and youthful, drama whizkid, Ryan Gosling, you do not try to search out any backstories to add innards to the characters. The actors do it for the writers and director, by stuffing their roles with personal éclat and sheer, razor-edged professionalism. And, never mind that their vehicle, Fracture, is totally outlandish. (It could have been inspired by Jay Ward’s old TV animated cartoons “Fractured Fairytales.”) Okay? Now sit back and enjoy.

Sir Anthony very nearly reprises his Hannibal Lecter portrayal as legend-in-his-own-time aeronautical engineer Ted Crawford, whose brilliance enables him to detect even the most infinitesimal glitch (or, you might say, Fracture) in a vastly intricate system. Got it? His extraordinary skills allow him to get into underlings’ heads and mess with them. Unfortunately, he does this to his young wife, Embeth Davidtz, with a bullet when he finds she has been cheating on him with a married cop, Billy Burke. Complications are adored by Crawford. Not only does he plan to outsmart the law, he will frame her lover and get away with the crime – that is, if he can manipulate the grey matter in the assistant District Attorney’s head, which is on the capable neck and shoulders of Willy Beachum, played by Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling. Willy is a hotshot lawyer who wants to get out of the musty, civic hallways that lead to a tiresome pension and instead, strut down the rich corridors of corporate law to fame and fortune. He knows, of course, that the well-heeled, cutthroat heels that clatter down the posh, private sector halls have a devilish evil in them that equals that of the public criminal. But, oh! The last trial before leaving will be humbling.

Fracture almost finesses itself off the screen. Slippery glib and slick as enamel, the director, Gregory Holblit, revisits his Primal Fear of eleven years ago and adds many more twists, curves, swerves and U-turns. In the style of Hitchcock, it isn’t so much about what has and is happening, it’s about what can or will happen. It’s a minefield of questions. What happened to the gun that Crawford used to put the bullet into his wife’s face? The police showed up so soon after. The shooter instigated a fight with the cop/lover to make him look bad later and the gun disappeared. This mystery is only a small part of the difficulty Willy has to face as Crawford assumes his own defense. At the start, the case against Crawford seemed a slam-dunk. (Oh, those fateful words.) However, Willy, who is a rather white-trash Southerner, is wanting to get into the very WASPy law firm that represents some of the most despicable predators in the corporate swamp of business low-life critters. Hopkins’ Crawford is merely a cunning sociopath. So smug, so self appreciative, a jail scene interrogation has him breaking down Gosling’s Hamlet-like Beachum, showing off his mastermind skills for twisting people’s heads and making them his.

The other woman permitted in this fella’s movie is the easy-to-look-at Rosamund Pike, as Willy’s lady friend, and could-be future superior, Nikki Gardner. Nikki has only a bit more to do (besides look good in a sweater) than Crawford’s wife, laying in a pool of blood. She has an easy time being attracted to Willy, Gosling’s eye maneuvers alone can wilt her. Its a feast simply watching him work. Watch him listen to his mentor and moral conscience, played by David Strathairn, the District Attorney Joe Labruto. Boy, that guy is as steady as a rock. Sir Anthony works his way through a devilishly engaging script that doesn’t mean a thing, but it’s got that zing. He chews every page deliciously, as if with his permanent sides of fava beans and nice Chianti. The humor written into the script cannot match the obvious fun and pleasure he enjoys from working on a picture as frivolous as this one and working opposite the matching talent of Gosling.

It’s said the two stars did actually clash. Gosling, of the new school, takes everything seriously, including playing opposite someone he’s in awe of. It made him more apprehensive of the script’s directions. He had as many questions as the script. Hopkins’ old school method is, “Hit the mark and say the lines.” Gosling did get the ending re-shot. I didn’t notice any personal fireworks. Maybe you will.

Guy-Jean de Fraumeni is the producer/writer/director of award-winning European and American feature films. He has been a judge at Major Film and TV award competitions, including the Oscars, the Emmy’s and various film festivals. Sarah Halsey assists him.