some flaws

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2012)

Contact is a movie I have seen many times, and through it all, I have learned to sort of ignore all of the irritating, poorly cast male characters and focus on the big picture - the movie's positive message, the sophisticated plot and the often stunning visuals. So its always been a mixed bag for me and another case of Hollywood transforming a book into something that would probably shock the original author. Contact may have been a book written by Carl Sagan, but the movie is all Jodie Foster. And as a vehicle for Jodie, it was well conceived. But Jodie's incredibly strong on screen persona is not easy for everyone to digest. And worst of all, it tends to rubs off on everyone else that is cast to play along side of her here.
Anyway, Jodie is Dr Ellie Arroway, a brilliant, lonely, obsessed and tempestuous astrophysicist. Since the death of her Dad when she was a youngster, there has been a big wormhole sized hole in her world, and she attempts to fill it by searching for life on other planets. This very personal story is then weaved together with an intergalactic one involving not only all of humankind but otherworldly beings as well when she succeeds in making first contact with aliens from the Vega star system. They want to say hello and send down a taxi (which we must build ourselves) to ferry some lucky individual to the center of the galaxy for a rendezvous with......God? Anyway, only one person gets to go, which, although it makes no sense from a practical point of view, fits well with the movie's theme which is an exploration of one woman's very personal, spiritual journey. One very bright but socially inept young woman.
OK, now perhaps because those that wrote the screenplay knew that Jodie's personality would not go down easily with everyone, they actually wrote jokes about her confrontational, "pain in the ass" style right into the script. That way you were at least told up front what to expect and it was OK - Dr Arroway is a seething mass of conflicting emotions, veiled and not so veiled hostilities, and childlike obsessions that often go beyond normal logic or reasoning. She doesn't always get along with others, particularly men, and particularly anyone that tries to control her. Instinctively, every male to her is either a loving father figure or someone just trying to jerk her around. Well, predictably, I guess, this is why all of the male's cast here are either jerks or Dads. Or sometimes both :) But does this make for enjoyable movie viewing? No, most of the time it doesn't. Not when you have actors like Tom Skerrit and James Woods cast in painfully confrontational roles and given incredibly lame scripts, playing jerks opposite Jodie. And neither does it work for me regarding Ellie's blind friend Kent, who I found irritating. But I reserve most of my scorn for Ellie's love interest, Palmer Joss (Played by Mathew McConaughey), who somehow manages to combine jerk/leering/frat boy with godlike/father/saintliness, and does it with a straight face. I mean, WTF? Who is kidding who? Well, Ellie seems to be attracted to both sides of this chameleon, though. I mean, it took lines like "that must really chap his ass" to get her attention initially, but down the line, she also bows down to "you could call me a man of the cloth", as if, by now balancing the ticket, she just might have found herself her perfect man? I don't know, but Palmer's White House "Spiritual adviser" connections are ludicrous. Couldn't they have cast someone less of a hunk for this role? Someone more cerebral? Jeff Bridges, perhaps?
Anyway, I no longer laugh out loud at these sillier casting perplexities, and enjoy the movie for its originality plot-wise and for the science, the mystery and the journey into space. This is where Jodie is most at home anyway, not in the social arena. And ditto myself when viewing this movie. There is much to enjoy. A cool space transporter powered by strange technology that looks like a giant atom. A message from space that must be decoded. And without writing a spoiler here, I must say there are some unexpected plot twists along the way that will entertain. But ultimately, what it comes down to is Jodie and her relationship with all of these men, both the jerks and the dad's. Jodie frets and glares at the jerks. But in the presence of the Dad's she is soft, vulnerable, feminine and childlike in awe. I kind of find this to be a little disquieting, as though she never grew up, never accepted her place in the world amongst all of her peers. Maybe her journey, though and the fulfillment of her spiritual quest will settle her down. I think that knowing that might be a relief to us film goers, anyway. Knowing that Ellie Arroway, if she were ever to resurface in a sequel, would be a little mellower and forgiving towards those of us less Godlike than dear old Dad. And then maybe the jerks would disappear too...