My First Mister (2001)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Christine Lahti

Writer (WGA):

Jill Franklyn (written by)

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (Canada)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Mismatched. Misguided. Unmistakably friends.

Plot:

A 17-year-old girl has a troubled relationship with a 49-year-old man.

Plot Keywords:

Tattoo | Piercing | High School | Death | Gothic

Cast

Rutanya Alda	...	Woman at Apartment
Natasha Braisewell	...	Girl in Vintage
Albert Brooks	...	Randall - 'R'
Henry Brown	...	Jack Taylor - Salesman
Gary Bullock	...	Mr. Smithman
Kevin Cooney	...	Doctor
Nic Costa	...	Blaine - Surfer Boy
William Forward	...	Customer
John Goodman	...	Benjamin
Desmond Harrington	...	Randy
Shawn Huff	...	Woman at R's Store
Carol Kane	...	Mrs. Benson
Michael McKean	...	Bob
Chadwick Palmatier	...	Manager
Pauley Perrette	...	Bebe

Also Known As:

Mein erster richtiger Freund (Germany) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual material.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Spain:13 | USA:R | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Century City Shopping Center - 10250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

ApolloMedia

Trivia:

Michael McKean and 'Christine Lahti' worked together before. They were in rehearsals for a partly-improvised comedy film titled "Kiss the Bride." The project never came to the silver screen. It would have been directed by Bob Balaban.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the glass of the VW Beetle as it's being towed by the pickup truck.

Quotes:

Randy Harris, Jr.: Wanna come up for lunch?
Jennifer ("J"): [Immitating Randy] I'll eat but I'm not talking.
Jennifer ("J"): [about "R"] And we didn't do it, okay! He's just the greatest person I met in my entire life!
Randy Harris, Jr.: Turkey and swiss okay?

Movie Connections:

References "Knots Landing" (1979)

Soundtrack:

Don't Look Now

I can't forget that first half, where 2 human beings, unencumbered by any expectation other than their own need for connection, follow none of the formulas but love on its own terms.

May to December can be the cruelest months if they're about a relationship between a young woman and an older man. `American Beauty' and more recently `Ghost World' carried the usual criticism of this socially questionable alliance, from downright damage in the former to uncertainty about how it could ever work in the latter.

In `My First Mister,' starring Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski, the union works so beautifully in the first half of the film I thought even I could try it. Director Christine Lahti, who won an Oscar for best short film, "Lieberman in Love," concentrates on the flowering friendship between a Goth girl who needs a friend and a job and a 49 year-old haberdasher who has jettisoned everyone in order to live out his life painlessly for everyone.

Jill Franklyn, who wrote the "Yada Yada" episode of "Seinfeld," pens perfect lines for the understated Brooks, such as when he first sees Sobieski: "Scram. Shoo. Why don't you go get your eyeballs pierced?" and another time when he says, "I want the smallest tattoo you have. Can you give me a dot, or a period?"

Director Lahti shows her originality by letting us painfully and slowly watch a purple-haired Sobieski pull out her nose and face rings. This film is the best I have ever seen to give respect to a much-maligned paring in movies. The 17-year-old punker helps him awaken to life's interesting couplings like cavorting mannequins, and he shows her love unalloyed. When the time comes for sex, as it always does in Hollywood, no one cares, even the audience, because the point is the friendship.

In the second half of the film Lahti lets go of her originality to indulge the genre with the usual fatal twist, easy reconciliation of family, and renewal for Sobieski found in a most unbelievable coincidence. Yet I can't forget that first half, where 2 human beings, unencumbered by any expectation other than their own need for connection, follow none of the formulas but love on its own terms.