Movie review: God’s Pocket - too big for these shoes

Philip Seymour’s acting genius is stifled in his final project.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death in February this year had thousands of fans lamenting his profound loss to the world. It ignited a discussion on the pervasiveness of addictive substances like cocaine and heroin in Hollywood. However, when media outlets found another subject that piqued their interest, it was soon realised that Hoffman’s performances were finite and that the characters that could have been inhabited by this burly monolith of acting prowess were laid to rest with him. This also holds true for the character of Mickey Scarpato, a blue-collar worker brought to life by Hoffman in God’s Pocket, a movie that failed to match his talent.

The movie starts off in a funeral home where a community and family mourn the death of 22-year-old Leon Scarpato, who has a penchant for using the ‘N’ word. This gets him killed at the construction site he works at and now a mother’s intuition and  womanising reporter want to find out more. In the meanwhile, Leon’s father, Mickey Scarpato and his friend ‘Bird’ Capezio are trying to con their way to more money, guzzling down more beers and taking care of things by stealing meat and trying to sell it off. Mickey has a gambling problem and even manages to lose the $1,400 donation collected by The Hollywood bar patrons. Since, he cannot make the payment to the funeral home director Smilin Jack Moran. He throws Leon’s body out in the streets, and Mickey drives it around in his meat truck with the meat still in it. A stroke of luck gets Mickey the money he needs for a mahogany coffin for his son and all the while oblivious to him a romance blossoms between his wife and Richard Shellbum, the reporter. Nothing goes quite as planned, and it is easy to see why a simmering anger boils over at the end when the bar patrons give the reporter his comeuppance, after he writes an unflattering column about them.

The film’s main cast is full of character actors that always leave you wanting more. But the weak screenplay and misguided directing leave them languishing in a purgatorial existence. Hoffman and Christina Hendricks, of Mad Men, star as Mickey and Jeanie Scarpato while John Turturro, Richard Jenkins and Eddie Marsen play Bird Carpezio, Richard Shellbum and Smilin’ Jack Moran respectively. They all do a fine job of living their characters but are weighed down by a script that is totally inconsistent and a director who is probably learning that adapting a book faithfully is sometimes incongruous to a realistic script. The story beats seem off at times and the dialogue bookish.

The feature film directorial debut of John Slattery, who played Roger Sterling in Mad Men starts off somber but tapers off to a comedy of errors. But by then it is already too late for the cast or screenplay to elevate it to more than what it is. Lance Acord, the cinematographer, does well to create a drab world that looks natural but even his genius cannot help. I watched the movie because Phillip Seymour Hoffman was starring, but I am crestfallen to see that one of his last legacies will be an entirely forgettable one.

More for Phillip Seymour Hoffman fans

1. Magnolia



An ensemble cast directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that explores the forces greater than chance in our ordinary lives. Hoffman plays a male nurse caring for a cancer patient who wants to get in touch with his estranged son.

2. The Master



Paul Thomas Anderson’s exploration of a nascent Scientology-like cult with Hoffman as its charismatic leader is a modern masterpiece. This multilayered story, with a taut screenplay and inspired cinematography is a must-watch for any cinephile.

3. Doubt



John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize winning play is probably cinema at its best. Hoffman deftly plays a priest accused of pedophilia in a performance that leaves the audience wondering about his innocence or guilt till the end.

Rating: 2/5

Vivian J Xavier is a cinematographer. He tweets@vivianjxavier

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 28^th, 2014.