The Man from Elysian Fields

Released 2001
Stars Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies, Olivia Williams, James Coburn, Anjelica Huston, Michael Des Barres
Directed by George Hickenlooper

After failing to get his latest book published, a Los Angeles novelist (Andy Garcia) finds it difficult to pay the bills and support his wife (Julianna Margulies) and son. He's compelled to take a job with an elite male escort service called Elysian Fields (run by Mick Jagger) … which leads to him having an affair with the beautiful wife (Olivia Williams) of one of the world's most successful writers (James Coburn), whom he also befriends.

Summary from www.netflix.com

The first two acts of this movie are a dream. It opens with a painfully funny scene with writer Byron Tiller (Andy Garcia) desperately trying to persuade a woman to buy his book from the bargain bin but failing. Then there's another priceless scene where he tries to get his advertising job back, but his boss has the last word. There's a lot of great stuff in this movie, but Mick Jagger and James Coburn steal the show in completely different ways. Mick plays a somber, world-weary, heart-broken gigolo, while Coburn plays a Pulitzer(s) prize winning author at the very end of his Ernest Hemingway-styled life. The net is they make the movie even though they're supporting actors that are never in the same scene, and their storylines have completely different tones.

Unfortunately, the last act falls flat on its face. It all boils down to the movie betting its money on the wrong horse by backing the love story. Its wonderfully quirky energy is killed by a long, dragged out, predictable third act about a husband losing his wife and winning her back. Ugh. I have a theory about the movie, though. I think it was supposed to end differently, but I read on imdb.com they ran out of money. During the boring third act, I started thinking about the setup. Was it really a coincidence that Luther (Mick Jagger) so strongly pursued wimpy, unsexy Byron while client Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams) needed a writer? I think the whole thing was a setup by both Alcotts for Luther to find an unsuccessful but powerful writer to help Tobias (James Coburn) finish his book. It was obvious Byron was going to get screwed when Tobias offered him an equal, co-author credit, because there's really no such thing for a novel--especially for an author of Tobias' stature. Of course, Byron was too dumb to ask for a contract, so I knew they were going to hose him, but I'm pretty sure the movie was supposed to deal with this sting operation somehow. I sure wish they would have, because the ending they gave us was painful. Still, it's worth a rental. --Bill Alward, April 24, 2003