CREATOR. Directed by Ivan Passer; written by Jeremy Leven; produced by Stephen Friedman for Universal. Starring Peter O'Toole, Vincent Spano, Mariel Hemingway and Virginia Madsen. Rated R (language, nudity).
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Creator certainly isn't the first movie not to deliver what its previews promise. But in this case, I'm glad it didn't.
Those previews lead one to expect a comedy about college boys looking for sex. And the first part of the movie looks a lot like that. But it ends up being more a touching melodrama than a comedy. And it brings up some interesting ideas about science, faith and love.
The first third or so of the movie is the least successful segment. It introduces college student Boris (Spano) and Nobel laureate professor Harry (O'Toole) and gets their relationship going. Harry is brilliant but eccentric, in spades. Down-to-earth Boris is drawn to him, though, in spite of the flakiness, because of Harry's supreme self-confidence.
The cinematic style used here is very jerky, with short comic scenes connected by upbeat music, but by little narrative continuity, Once the characters are in place, though, they're appealing enough to overcome the movie's earlier sloppiness.
I started really to like Creator about the time that Meli (Hemingway) comes on the scene. She's even crazier than Harry, and their relationship picks up the interest. And when Boris and Barbara (Madsen) begin to fall in love Creator is finally on the right track. It's a shame so much time had to be wasted earlier.
O'Toole has found his true calling playing brilliant, yet vulnerable, arrogant, yet self-critical, Great Men. The combination is irresistible here, as it was in My Favorite Year.
Most of the time Boris is a good foil for Harry. But I liked him best in his scenes with Barbara. Their affection is so sweet and sincere that although they do shower and sleep together before wedlock, their relationship ia a throwback to less complicated romances in movies past.
The title of the movie refers to THE Creator, and modern science's attempts to play God with issues of life and death. For instance, Harry has saved some cells from the body of his wife who died 30 years before Creator opens. In his backyard toolshed, with the help of Boris, Meli and some embezzled equipment, he hopes to clone her back to life.
Some of the movie's satirical dialogue concerning God's relationship to humankind may offend some viewers. But in the end, Creator lands squarely on the side of religion and faith.
Science, at least modern medical technology, comes off rather badly in Creator. Its representative is Harry's academic rival Sid (David Ogden Stiers). For all his expertise, Sid can't seem to do anything right when it comes to people.
Harry, on the other hand, certainly knows his way around an equation or chemical diagram. But he's a true romantic at heart. His ultimate power stems from his belief that love conquers all.
September 25, 1985