My First Mister is like a little kid who's so eager to get to the great punchline of his story that he mangles the beginning of it. The opening scenes are a dreary slog through clicheville, but when the movie hits its offbeat stride, there's no stopping it.

The story concerns Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski), a goth-punk teenager of the kind that is already in danger of becoming a stock movie character. It's almost a form of shorthand for modern screenwriters: Breathes there any teenager in movie dramas who doesn't (a) pierce every possible body cavity, (b) sneer at society while sponging off it, and (c) have white-bread parents who are in total denial? (Life as a House, recently released to video, suffers the same defect.)

One day, Jennifer decides to hit the mall to find an easy job. She comes across a clothing-store manager named Randall (the brilliant Albert Brooks), the kind of man for whom the term "haberdasher" was created. Jennifer and Randall take an instant dislike to each other, and yet they make the barest of connections.

Jennifer sees through this guy's crusty-old-man act, and Randall has an infallible gift for coming right to the point. When Jennifer uses the f-word a bit too often in his presence, Randall succinctly tells Jennifer the story of the boy who cried wolf and commands her, "I want you to become the girl who cried '****'!"

Brooks' and Sobieski's interplay is so fresh and insightful that it's almost a shame when the movie tries (too hard) to explain Jennifer's state of alienation, providing her with a hippie father-divorcee (John Goodman at his laziest) and a clueless stepfather and mother (played hopelessly by Michael McKean and Carol Kane). Fortunately, most of the family stuff is just a set-up for Jennifer and Randall to get to know and help each other.

Though the movie is R-rated (mostly for much raw language), Jennifer and Randall, thank heavens, don't end up making love. Happily, their story is too interesting for that. Even the ending, which a viewer can see coming a mile away, seems to have been earned, thanks to the actors' rich work. Brooks, in particular, hardly even seems to be acting--he comes off as though he's making up his rich, dry wit as he goes along.

If you can get through the movie's bad-sitcom-type prologue, My First Mister provides some nice rewards.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings