There's nothing inherently wrong with filmmakers wearing their hearts -- or their politics -- on their sleeves. That is, unless it leads to heavy-handed, frenzied rhetoric, as is the case with "Cradle Will Rock."
It's not that the story behind this fact-based comedy-drama is uninteresting. Truth be told, it's one of the least-told, but most deserves-to-be-told stories of Depression-era America.Yet, somehow, actor-turned-filmmaker Tim Robbins makes it seem less interesting with his overly earnest posturings about the gap between art and commerce.
Not that the film is unwatchable. There are some terrific performances by Robbins' ensemble cast. But it is an extreme disappointment, especially since anticipation is heightened by the high quality of Robbins' previous filmmaking efforts, "Bob Roberts" (1992) and "Dead Man Walking" (1995).
Purporting to be a "(mostly) true story," the movie follows several performers and artists who ply their trades in the midst of New York City's cultural revolution in 1936.
They include Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria), a composer working on a new, controversial, musical; Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades), who's been commissioned to paint the lobby of the Rockefeller Center; Olive Stanton (Emily Watson), a homeless vocalist looking for her big break; and Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray), a ventriloquist who is paranoid about communists taking over vaudeville.
Breaks and disappointments are about to come their way, thanks to those who support the artists and performers, such as philanthropists Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) and Countess La Grange (Vanessa Redgrave) and Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones), head of the federally funded WPA Theater program.
In fact, thanks to the WPA and the bickering direction and production team of Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes), Marc finally gets the chance to mount his musical -- that is, until funding for the agency is pulled by Red-fearing congressmen.
These may sound like fascinating stories, but they don't come off that way in the hands of writer-director-producer Robbins, who simply has too much to say. And here, at least, Robbins does not demonstrate nearly enough skill and subtlety to say it. (Particularly irksome is the film's final shot, which is unbelievably hypocritical in its accusations.)
Still, Robbins does get fine performances out of the main cast members, especially Azaria, Jones, Watson and Murray, whose individual tales each would have made better movies. And amusingly over-the-top supporting turns by Macfadyen and Elwes threaten to steal the show.
Not all of the acting is as good, though, since Robbins can't say no to his friends and family. (The usually steady Cusack is all wrong as Rockefeller, while Robbins' longtime companion Susan Sarandon seems to have cribbed her awful Italian accent from her "Lorenzo's Oil" co-star Nick Nolte.)
"Cradle Will Rock" is rated R for profanity, female nudity, as well as glimpses of nude artwork, violent police beatings, simulated sex and some crude humor, as well as some use of vulgar slang terms.