Film Analysis | Film Reviews

Coney Island Goose Chase

1 Aug , 1999  

Written by Julie Wolf | Posted by:

A review of 'Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five.'

When I visited Brooklyn as a little girl, my Uncle Joe took me and my sister and our great-grandmother’s dog for a long walk to Coney Island. At least I think it was Coney Island. It was definitely New York, and there was a boardwalk. In this happy memory, it’s Coney Island, and Coney Island, I’ve come to understand, is what you make it.

The Coney Island in Richard Schenkman’s "Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five" is a lot grimmer than I remember, but no less sentimental. In Schenkman’s second teaming with actor Jon Cryer (the first was "The Pompatus of Love"), the film follows lifelong friends Daniel (Cryer) and Stan (Rick Stear) as they search for their lost third musketeer, Richie (Rafael Baez), a grade school friend now rumored to be homeless and insane, a denizen of the underworld (under-Boardwalk) of the once-great amusement park.

The film’s title comes from Stan and Daniel’s "code": whenever Stan comes calling and says, "It’s a mission from God," Daniel, powerless to resist him, drops whatever he’s doing–be it classwork as a child or work-work as an adult. So when Stan arrives at Daniel’s office, determined to track Richie down, Daniel naturally obliges. Richie made Stan and Daniel’s duo a trio during early adolescence, when Richie would wow the boys with tales of his amorous escapades. As much as girls brought them together, a girl was, inadvertently, their undoing: when one of Richie’s supposed girlfriends tells Daniel that Richie "can’t even make a move," a humiliated Richie all but vanishes from the group, dedicating himself to his little sister, Allegra.

With its reverence for nostalgia and childhood friendships, "Went to Coney Island" is a "Wonder Years" for the big screen. (I mean that in a good way). Everything from the boys’ past is revealed in well-crafted flashbacks, incorporated neatly into the present action. The present action, however, isn’t always quite as tight, and the episodic nature of the film gives it a disjointed feel at times. During their picaresque journey, Stan and Daniel meet a photographer who talks about love and light; a hostile skee ball attendant who lectures on economics (a brilliant cameo by Frank Whaley); and a down-on-his-luck fellow who waxes rhapsodic about a most unusual-looking Julie. Each of these characters, of course, reveals some grand truth about life–often the purpose of the disenfranchised in film–thereby illuminating the reason for Stan and Daniel’s mission, which seems to be as much about examining their own lives as it is about recovering Richie.

While the homeless soothsayer has become something of a cliché, the film redeems itself through its earnestness and intelligence. This intelligence comes largely from Jon Cryer’s inspiring performance as Daniel. Best remembered as Molly Ringwald’s pal Duckie in "Pretty in Pink," Cryer is the king of the little gesture. There’s a scene where Daniel looks at himself in the mirror and runs a hand through his thinning hair. In this one natural movement, Cryer reveals volumes about Daniel’s life (which we don’t really get otherwise, because his primary purpose is to relay information about everyone but himself). It’s as if that receding hairline is his only indication that he’s an adult now. Once the mission is underway and the memories come flooding back, we know, too, that his hairline is about all that keeps him grounded in the present.

Coney Island the place is both symbol and character in Schenkman’s picture, a ghost forced to exist, dulled and empty, in a world that has since moved on to bigger and better things. A sense of mourning permeates "Went to Coney Island," with its flashbacks and friendships and longing for days gone by. Perhaps "longing" isn’t quite right here–Stan and Daniel are each, in their own way, mired in days gone by. As they scour Coney Island for Richie, each man has the opportunity to drag some demons of his own to the surface, shedding light not only on what’s become of him, but what may have brought Richie to this sad point, too.

‘Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five’ was selected to be the Opening Night Gala Premiere at the 1999 Providence/Rhode Island International Film Festival. Director Richard Schenkman and actor Jon Cryer will be present for the premiere, and will participate in a morning coffee talk on Friday, August 13, 1999. For a complete festival schedule, go to http://www.eatinri.com/flickers. Official web site for the film at http://www.evenmore.com/


'Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five' was selected to be the Opening Night Gala Premiere at the 1999 Providence/Rhode Island International Film Festival. Director Richard Schenkman and actor Jon Cryer will be present for the premiere, and will participate in a morning coffee talk on Friday, August 13, 1999. For a complete festival schedule, go to http://www.eatinri.com/flickers. Official web site for the film at http://www.evenmore.com/

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