After the 2003 Academy Awards it seemed Adrien Brody had the world at his feet. At just 29, he managed to win a Best Actor Oscar and make out with Halle Berry on the same day. It seemed there was nowhere he could go but down. And that's just what he did.

Along comes Dummy. And no, it's not about our current pResident. Adrien Brody stars as Steven, a shy 30-year-old so awkward he makes Woody Allen look like the Fonz. Steven dreams of being a ventriloquist and unfortunately we see those dreams fully realized.

One wonders why a film with such a talented (albeit unique) cast including Illeana Douglas, Milla Jovovich and Jared Harris would sign on to do this. I guess when you put together actors who have portrayed Meyer Lansky's wife, Joan of Arc and Andy Warhol, respectively, you're gonna have some weird shit happen.
Usually it's not difficult for audiences to identify and/or empathize with the underdog. In this film however, it's difficult to even take the underdog seriously because the narrative continually oscillates between us laughing with him and at him. It is rather difficult to take Steven seriously; therefore our pity (if any) is half-hearted. He lives in a fantasy world full of interesting, yet stereotypical characters. About the third or fourth time his mother offered him food (she's Jewish of course - what a shock) I began to feel nauseated in my head and my tummy).

The jokes are ok, but ya gotta learn when to stop. We also see this in Fangora (played by Jovovich), who comes off as a Joan Jett wannabe (although I highly doubt Joan Jett would actually wear a Ratt t-shirt -- but I digress). Fangora is like one of those wind-up toys that still tries to move even when it falls on its back. For someone with such an outrageous personality and fierce temper I find it strange that she hangs out with Dork-of-the-Month, Steven. Jovovich does get to show off her vocal talent - I'm sure some of us can remember her 1994 hit "The Gentleman who Fell." I just wish a gentleman had fallen on Pritikin's head while he was writing this screenplay. Maybe he could have gained some insight into the characters. Jovovich does do a good job though, but I suggest for her next role she lay off the speed.

As always, Adrien Brody does a great job; he even makes the film watchable! He makes me not hate Steven so much and if an actor can influence the audience to embrace a character who is utterly unappealing, s/he is doing a damn good job. It should be noted that Brody did all of the ventriloquism work in the film. We see Steven's improvement at throwing his voice, which I'm sure coincided with Brody's progression as well. He's pretty good at it, too. If anything, this will be Brody's first performance where our eyes are fixed on his mouth instead of his nose.

The main thing that troubled me about the film was its tone. As I mentioned earlier it is difficult for an audience to relate to the characters while simultaneously laughing at them. Writer/director Greg Pritikin (not to be confused with Mandy Patinkin or ironically the classic film, Battleship Potemkin) needs to decide how he wants us to view the characters. If one takes them seriously, the cheap jabs (think high school jock performing stand up) specifically meant to poke fun at the characters, automatically lose their humor. If one were to accept the jokes, betrayal to the characters is imminent. The film is too quirky and farfetched for us to take it genuinely, yet Pritinkin plays at our heartstrings and asks us to accept these characters as genuine when they are just that - characters - not real people.

After being edited myriad times over and pushed back more often than last season's Cincinnati Bengals, the film has landed an actual release date, September 12.

Odds are this day will not be as joyous for Mr. Brody as March 23 was.

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