Writer-star pulls off impressive one-man show

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This was published 4 years ago

Writer-star pulls off impressive one-man show

By Jake Wilson

THUNDER ROAD ★★★

(M) 90 minutes


A slim, youthful-looking guy in a moustache stands up in front of a small crowd to deliver the eulogy at his mother's funeral.

As he explains, his mother was, among other things, a dance teacher and to honour her memory he plans to perform a dance of his own to a Bruce Springsteen song.

But the toy tape recorder he's brought with him doesn't work, his emotions get the better of him and nothing goes as planned.

Jim Cummings and Kendal Farr in Thunder Road.

Jim Cummings and Kendal Farr in Thunder Road.

The opening scene of Thunder Road — the first feature from writer-director-star Jim Cummings, based on his own 2016 short film — runs more than 10 unflinching minutes without a cut.

By the time it's over, we've learnt a good deal about the character played by Cummings, a small-town cop named Jim Arnaud: his difficult family history, his pride in his job and shame at his dyslexia and his devotion to his young daughter Crystal (Kendal Farr).

Jim's public meltdown is painful to watch, and also a little funny — but not in a way that relies on punchlines which give us unmistakable cues to laugh.

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Rather, the scene leaves us room to make up our own minds about him, while testifying to his sincerity, self-pity, naivety, flamboyance and difficulty expressing his feelings in socially acceptable terms.

Nican Robinson and Jim Cummings in Thunder Road.

Nican Robinson and Jim Cummings in Thunder Road.

These and other traits are elaborated on in a subsequent series of vignettes which tend to follow the same pattern as the opening sequence, the camera staying locked onto Jim as he goes gradually off the rails.

He's been told to take the week off work, but refuses to heed the warnings of his boss (Bill Wise). He's also enduring the ongoing pain of a recent divorce, which eventually leads to a custody battle over Crystal.

Thunder Road bears a family resemblance to the kind of “man-child” comedy which has long been the specialty of stars such as Danny McBride, Will Forte or even Adam Sandler. Yet it never topples into outright burlesque. Jim remains all too credible, not least in his ability to make every situation all about him while insisting, in a rather maudlin way, on his commitment to doing the right thing.

The film has its jarring elements, which seem partly deliberate, but may also partly be the product of Cummings' inexperience. The editing sometimes jumps around oddly, as in a scene where Jim attends a parent-teacher conference.

The shifts in tone from whimsy to heavy drama are not always smoothly negotiated, and the pat ending leaves a good many issues unresolved.

The central weakness is that none of the supporting characters are allowed much definition apart from their relation to Jim, which means the film shares something of its hero's self-involvement. If you can accept that, however, Thunder Road is an impressive one-man-show.

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