Robbed

It has been a week since we woke up to the tragic news about Rob and Michelle Reiner. As if the loss of two caring and talented individuals was not enough, the cruelty of the nation’s supposed “role model” in response to this tragedy made my search for some meaning in an otherwise senseless act more imperative.

As a cinephile, I immediately assumed the answer might be in Reiner’s directorial portfolio. I was not alone. However, most of journalists, pundits and fans of Rob Reiner’s work focused on Being Charlie, a 2015 film about a family dealing with their son’s drug addiction. The narrative is loosely based on the Reiners’ own experience with their middle child Nick. Unlike most Reiner productions, the film was not well received. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus of critics’ review said, “Being Charlie has wonderful intentions and a strong central performance, but an affecting true story gets lost in the script’s surfeit of clichés.”

Nick was actively involved in Being Charlie. He is listed as co-writer along with veteran screenwriter and family friend Matt Elisofon. In interviews following the film’s debut at the Toronto Film festival, Rob and Nick admitted the joint effort was, above all, a therapeutic endeavor designed to bring closure to a rough chapter in their lives. Perhaps, it was this primary goal that detracted from Rob’s attention to the cinematic elements of the production. As we now know, the flawed movie did not bring the closure father and son sought. The real-life sequel did not have a happy ending.

Perhaps the answer lay somewhere else in Reiner’s filmography. The only way to find out was to start binge watching my favorite entries in that list of Reiner greatest hits. But as I always remind you, but so often ignore myself, heed Edward R. Morrow who wisely said, “The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.” My search would end viewing a Reiner film I had never watched in its entirety, North. Why? Because my film critic muse Roger Ebert said it was a waste of time. “North is one of the most unpleasant, contrived, artificial, cloying experiences I’ve had at the movies.” Movie trivia buffs know North is the answer to the question, “In what review did Roger Ebert use the word ‘hated’ 12 times?”

Most Reiner fans write this disaster off as an example of his earliest directorial efforts when he was just learning the trade. In fact, North, released in July 1994, followed The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990), and immediately after A Few Good Men (1992).

What could have possibly inspired Reiner to create such an abashed flop after this impressive string of successes? As any good prosecutor knows, creating the narrative associated with most cases begins with the timeline. I believe the following three dates hold the key to North.

• May 2, 1991/Rob and Michelle’s eldest son Jake is born.
• December 9, 1992/A Few Good Men debuts.
• September 14, 1993/Nick Reiner is born.

North is the story of a talented, young boy (Elijah Wood) who believes his parents (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are too involved in their own lives to appreciate him. Once a judge (Alan Arkin) emancipates North, he searches the world in hopes of being adopted into a “better” family. The ending is reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, except it is the parents who realize “there’s no son like North” and vow to be more attentive.

Back to the key dates. After Jake is born, Rob spends most of the first year and a half of his son’s life making A Few Good Men. Understandable if you are familiar with Reiner’s attention to detail and obsession with perfection. For example, the final eight-minute scene in which Colonel Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson) takes the stand involved 50+ takes over a 10 day period.

When Nick is born, perhaps Reiner reflected on what he missed with Jake and vows not to make the same mistake again. He completes North in less than 10 months, a very short timeframe to produce and direct a movie from concept through filming and post-production to release. And it shows. He populates the cast with friends and seems to let them do their own thing. The best example being Jon Lovitz, who portrays the lawyer who represents North at his emancipation hearing. Lovitz’ performance is indistinguishable from the pathological liar he portrayed on SNL.

Bottom line? I do not believe Rob Reiner made North for his fans or trying to attract a new audience. He was memorializing a message to himself. And even, from an artistic perspective, when he did not get it right, the message of parents taking time for and appreciating one’s children, even when son Nick was less than one year old, was an expression of an ideal, which sadly even the best among us cannot always achieve.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP