by Thomas M. Pender
I never got the chance to watch the HBO series John From Cincinnati during its original run back in 2007, but I did catch the teaser ads. I was very intrigued at the curiosity campaign, which showed Bruce Greenwood walking up the beach from the ocean. Wearing a body suit and carrying a surfboard, he stops walking, looks stunned and confused, then looks down. He and the viewers notice that his feet are about six inches off the ground!
This intrigued me, and not being an HBO subscriber, I looked forward to the day I could see it on DVD. Well, that day came this past week. Luckily, I saw the entire one-season show through Netflix and I didn’t purchase it.
Ugh!
I’m a fan of symbolism, when it’s used wisely. I loved reading The Grapes of Wrath and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in the 11th grade, because Mr. Farah explained how the characters symbolized well-known characters from the Bible, including Jesus Christ Himself. As I mentioned in a review some weeks ago, Christian messages distributed to the general public as entertainment should be packaged in digestible wrapping, not force-fed. John failed miserably here. Nothing is digestible. I sort of understand some of the biblical symbolism, but not thoroughly, and I certainly didn’t enjoy doing it.
One of the reasons I was originally anxious to see the show was because the cast was literally filled with actors I perceive as capable: Greenwood, who I thoroughly enjoyed in the UPN’s Nowhere Man, Rebecca (Risky Business) De Mornay, Ed (Modern Family) O’Neill and Howard Hesseman, who can’t seem to leave Cincinnati behind! This is his third television romp in that town, after starring in WKRP In Cincinnati and The New WKRP In Cincinnati. However, when I finally got to see it, I discovered that these fine folks’ performances, while fascinating, were mired in confusing and convoluted dialogue. In a way, it was like watching Shakespeare: you can sort of follow the basic plot, but you have no idea what individual monologues and back-and-forths are all about. It was constantly and increasingly frustrating.
One major exception to the great casting was Greyson Fletcher, who played young surfer Shaun. I read that he was quickly cast based on his skateboard skills alone, which would transfer well into surfing skills. I believe it! Fletcher is about as good an actor as Laurence Olivier is today! It was like witnessing Day One of a mannequin learn to walk and talk. I’m not sure I ever saw the kid blink once . . . or smile . . . or emote in any real human fashion.
I can’t really tell you if Austin Nichols, who portrayed the title character, is a good actor. He spent the entire show grimacing as if forced to suck a lemon, and talking like he was the love child of Rain Man and E.T.! It was incredibly irritating, particularly in the beginning of the show, when he only speaks words he hears other characters say, and only knows a few lines.
JFC was not a bad idea for a show, but it was created and delivered with no clarity whatsoever, leaving us with one confusing mess. I seriously defy anyone to watch a single scene of this ten-episode series, and explain to me what the characters are talking about. It’s that bad! A shame, really. If they had simplified the dialogue in order to tell an entertaining and digestible story, I might actually feel bad it got cancelled.
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