Review: Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano Get Rowdy in Sam Shepard's Dark Comedy of Brotherly Dysfunction, TRUE WEST

"In this business we make movies. American movies. Leave the films to the French."

That's the advice a sleazy grifter says he received from a Hollywood producer in Sam Shepard's classic dark comedy of brotherly dysfunction, True West. The 1983 Pulitzer finalist is now receiving a rowdy Broadway revival, mounted by director James Macdonald for Roundabout Theatre Company, starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano.

Dano plays clean-cut, hard-working family man screenwriter Austin, temporarily staying at his mom's suburban SoCal home while she's vacationing in Alaska. Austin has a big meeting scheduled with producer Saul (genially business-like Gary Wilmes), who has been considering the eager young man's latest effort, a period piece that, from the little info the audience is fed, sounds like it's intended to be a film.

The trouble is that Austin's older brother, Lee, estranged for the past five years, has popped by and continually interrupts his sibling's solitude as he desperately tries to work.

An oily, hard-drinking loner who lives off of whatever he can steal, Hawke's Lee is a dangerous live wire who puts on a friendly front but hints at his potential for violence when challenged.

Intruding on the tail end of the meeting, Lee informally pitches a story idea for a western and, after an early morning round of golf with Saul, comes back with the news that Austin's idea has been shelved and he's been offered a deal for a first draft.

The incredulous Austin takes the news hard and goes on his own drinking binge, exposing a few live wires of his own. But, inexperienced at being the tough guy, his decline begins as a wryly humored one.

For the first time in their rocky relationship, little brother is in control as Lee suddenly discovers that writing a screenplay is harder than he thought, and Austin is enjoying seeing the bully begging for help.

But as inhibitions fall, the tension between them turns both realistically violent and comically messy. Mom comes home in time to witness the aftermath of the testosterone-saturated battle, and the sweetly-voiced Marylouise Burke gets great laughs with her soft-spoken reactions.

If you're looking for symbolism, you might regard the contrasting personalities of the brothers as representing movies versus film with both sides uncomfortably entering into the realm of the other.

In any case, my only complaint is that there weren't enough toasters.

To post a comment, you must register and login.