Blue Tooth Virgin, The Movie Review

Getting into Character...

Writing ain’t easy. Russell Brown’s insightful and well written talker, the oddly titled “The Blue Tooth Virgin,” will be of interest mainly to struggling writers and those fascinated with the craft. It also offers a chance to catch Karen Black in rare form—“morph’s” the word!

Sam (Austin Peck) has a new script, and it’s called The Blue Tooth Virgin. What it is about isn’t very clear, and why it’s called The Blue Tooth Virgin is even murkier. Sam had some success in the past writing for television but has had trouble ever since. He shares his latest Blue Tooth effort with his best friend, David (Bryce Johnson), a magazine editor who secretly thinks he can write screenplays. David takes the “how hard could it be?” approach. But when David reads and hates Sam’s script, David decides that it is time to get to work. And that is bound to put stress on any friendship. Sometimes honesty just isn’t the best policy.

Strong performances and some clever, self-aware writing can’t save writer/director Brown’s film. At times, the conversations that start as witty banter just go on too long. There is a scene on a golf course that absolutely does not work. Other sequences feel padded and distracting. But Brown shows us that he’s an excellent writer especially when Sam has an argument with his wife or David visits his blunt, no-nonsense therapist (played well by Roma Maffia). Any writer or wannabe writer has had the spouse argument, and Brown hits the mark squarely as Sam tries to explain his passion for writing to his caring but worn-down wife. A filmmaker friend of mine liked the camera work in that scene, mainly for the wide-angles, but I thought it should have been shot with more intimate focus. Either way, this kind of material is where Brown as a writer and filmmaker should be headed, probably in some sort of cable series.

Karen Black is great fun in “The Blue Tooth Virgin.” No, Black’s not the title character, rather she plays, in scene-stealing fashion, a muse that helps the blocked Sam. Her scene alone is worth recommending the film. Writers will definitely relate to Sam’s dilemma—he’s got a script that only he understands. And Black, playing a professional writer’s muse named Zena, knows that Sam’s days as a writer are running out. In her own twisted (and funny way), Zena reveals the truth to Sam. Black’s one scene as Zena provides the central truth of the movie: writing is all about getting into character. But once there, in order to make it as a screenwriter, you have to do something with that character that appeals to an audience. If the story is so inside the writer’s mind, only the writer will be the audience. And that’s fine as long as that writer has a day job.

“The Blue Tooth Virgin” is another film about the inner workings of the film industry. Given writer/director Brown’s experience, and my very limited experience, I thought that his take on the film world felt authentic. When a young writer takes a stab at Hollywood, I often find myself doubting the sincerity of the narrative. When Robert Altman did this sort of thing, especially with “The Player,” it breathed truth and profundity. Brown’s “Virgin” never turns the corner and while insightful languishes too long wearing out its welcome. Witty debates about writing turn into long diatribes.

Writing is hard work, and writing about writing maybe even harder. But as “The Blue Tooth Virgin” demonstrates, making a movie about writing and making that movie work might be the hardest thing of all.