This review marks the beginning of a change in focus for me. I just moved back to St. Louis, from Columbia, Mo., and my struggling-writer day job no longer involves getting paid to screen movies before they come out.
No, I actually have to pay now, so don't expect to see any reviews of Bring It On, The Crew or Highlander: Endgame anytime soon. Occasionally a bad movie will come along that I won't be able to resist, but these days on Epinions, it's a rare review that will even earn back the cost of the $5.50 ticket my tattered student ID buys me.
On the other hand, I have reasonable access to independent films again, and that's going to make a difference in my review output. It will probably also make a difference in my readership (think... lower), but my focus is on finding movies that engage me and passing those recommendations on to my readers. Or what readers I have left.
With all this in mind, I bring you The Tao of Steve, a low-budget comedy about an obese, middle-aged slacker who regurgitates philosophy greats and has a trifold system for successfully seducing a seemingly endless supply of women. This movie is charming, very funny and occasionally poignant, and your only real hint that it was written by a pair of women is the sentimental, tacked-on Hollywood ending.
Sisters Greer and Jenniphr Goodman turned out the script (Jenniphr, having the more alternative name, got the honor of being director), which simultaneously romanticizes and condemns the lifestyle of its group of male characters, who share a messy house together and still play poker, smoke pot and toss Frisbees like college freshman with too much time on their hands.
The main character, Dex, is played by Donal Logue as a detached intellectual and arrested development case. We first meet him at a college class reunion - he was the class stud, and he's since gained 75 or so pounds. That doesn't stop him from banging his friend's wife in the stacks of the library or hitting on the co-ed bartender while old classmates grumble and gossip.
Dex knows physical appearance doesn't really matter to women, but rather the properly played mechanics of the game. And his game plan involves The Tao of Steve, a three-part philosophy based on Dex's assertion that the "Steve" archetype (passed on by such luminaries as Steve McQueen, Steve McGarrett and Steve Austin) represents the ideal of American manhood. A man must always, like Bill and Ted once said, "be excellent" in some area while trying to impress a woman. And, your goal may be to sleep with this woman, but don't betray any lust or desire. Elusiveness is key.
But don't assume The Tao of Steve is some kind of high-brow remake of The Pick-Up Artist - there are a few funny scenes of Dex utilizing his strategies on unsuspecting members of the opposite sex, and he often tries to instill his ideology in a particularly lame roommate. No, this is about the stalling qualities of a personal comfort zone. Dex refuses to assume adult responsibility, instead hiding behind a haze of weed smoke and spending his days as a wacky kindergarten teacher. He quotes the philosophers and uses their thoughts to meld himself some softball assertions. And he picks up this stream of women as a substitute for the more frightening prospect of real love.
Which, as you might suspect, comes knocking for him as the movie wears on. Greer plays the love interest, who is just as out of place in picture-perfect Hollywood as Logue but exudes a winning amount of personality and charm. She's a visiting opera set designer, staying with Dex's married friends, and she has to share an old truck with Dex while his motorcycle is broken. That she has no interest in his Tao approach to romanticism turns him on like you wouldn't believe.
The movie's plot follows a fairly predictable arc. There's the buildup, false crisis, false resolution and real crisis, but the requisite elements are all handled with a sly humor and through some memorable set pieces. (I, for one, will never forget the movie's camping sequence.) And, like Roger Ebert said, the dialogue in this film sounds like it's being spoken by real people, not Hollywood actors. The characters - Dex, in particular - will remind you of people you know or have known. They may also, frighteningly, remind you of yourself. But they'll earn your respect, love and sympathy and, if you're anything like me, cause you to thoroughly enjoy The Tao of Steve.
Dex is an overweight kindergarten teacher who is known for his prowess with the ladies. His cool attitude is based on a combination of Steve McQueen a...More at HotMovieSale.com
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