Friday, July 4th, 2008

Diminished Capacity

Cooper (Matthew Broderick) suffers a concussion which has given temporary short term memory loss. On a request from his mother he takes leave from his job proofing the funnies. Upon his return to rural Missouri he meets up with his Uncle Rollie (Alan Alda) who is suffering from advanced memory problems or diminished capacity. Rollie, in a last ditch attempt to keep his house and stay out of a home, decides he wants to sell his most prized possession, a rare 1908 Cubs baseball card. They embark on a family road with long lost locals to a Chicago Baseball Card convention, where they meet with slick salesmen, uber fans and a blackhearted dealer. The conventioneers are a different kind of crazy and tbe duo have to battle their own disease to keep up and deal with them.

Despite a top notch cast, including Virginia Madsen, “Diminished Capacity” doesn’t quite crackle in the spokes. Alan Alda gives one of his mediocre performances marred by an unidentifiable and muddled southern accent. Broderick continues his streak of befuddled characters (“Election,“ “The Producers” and more recently “30 Rock”) and one really wants to see him break out this type casting and maybe try to be the cool guy again. Virginia Madsen is just fine as Cooper’s girl left behind.

While the culture of conventioneers is a ripe and rich premise the flick doesn’t quite delve deep enough. There are some very funny scenes but the film ultimately balks under a substandard script.

“Diminished Capacity” is directed by Terry Kinney and written by Sherwood Kiraly. The two first timers, who are long time staples in the Chicago Theatre, make an okay debut.
While it is a nice break from the Blockbusters, you can skip these boys of summer until it’s on DVD.