Main character Leo Spivak (Peter Riegert) is having a mid-life crisis in 'King of the Corner" a movie adapted from Gerald Shapiro's book, "Bad Jews and Other Stories." His ennui-ridden life seems lifted from "About Schmidt" and "Glengarry Glen Ross."
Now an aging salesman teetering on the tightrope of corporate America - Spivak momentarily looks down. His life tumbles into a free fall after that- His young pup sales trainee (played aptly by Jake Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman's son) nips at his heels. He and his wife (Isabella Rossellini) are no longer carnally or emotionally engaged. His teenage daughter doesn't respect him and his cantankerous old dad (Eli Wallach) delights in poking holes in his already cellophane-thin self-esteem. Leo doesn't buy a red sports car to support his trussed-up emotions- he has an affair and scratches the surface of a proverbial seven-year-itch. There isn't enough Goldbond Medicated Powder to salve his fractured libido-but a traumatic event late in the movie seems to jostle him back to earth- into the relatively safe orbit of his dysfunctional family.
The working title of the movie was, "The Pursuit of Happiness."
Spivak comes close to that at the end of the film. ----
I found the movie poignant and funny. The dialogue was superb and the cast was a who's who of great actors-Rita Moreno, Eric Bogosian, Beverly d'Angelo and the aforementioned Wallach, Rossellini and Riegert. This film was shot in 20 days on a modest budget. There were times when I thought the character development was a little thin and the pacing of the film a little slow. Riegert directed and starred in the movie and was present at the March 5 world premiere in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Ross Theater. Shapiro is an English professor at the University of Nebraska.
Now an aging salesman teetering on the tightrope of corporate America - Spivak momentarily looks down. His life tumbles into a free fall after that- His young pup sales trainee (played aptly by Jake Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman's son) nips at his heels. He and his wife (Isabella Rossellini) are no longer carnally or emotionally engaged. His teenage daughter doesn't respect him and his cantankerous old dad (Eli Wallach) delights in poking holes in his already cellophane-thin self-esteem. Leo doesn't buy a red sports car to support his trussed-up emotions- he has an affair and scratches the surface of a proverbial seven-year-itch. There isn't enough Goldbond Medicated Powder to salve his fractured libido-but a traumatic event late in the movie seems to jostle him back to earth- into the relatively safe orbit of his dysfunctional family.
The working title of the movie was, "The Pursuit of Happiness."
Spivak comes close to that at the end of the film. ----
I found the movie poignant and funny. The dialogue was superb and the cast was a who's who of great actors-Rita Moreno, Eric Bogosian, Beverly d'Angelo and the aforementioned Wallach, Rossellini and Riegert. This film was shot in 20 days on a modest budget. There were times when I thought the character development was a little thin and the pacing of the film a little slow. Riegert directed and starred in the movie and was present at the March 5 world premiere in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Ross Theater. Shapiro is an English professor at the University of Nebraska.