A Cool, Dry Place

Last updated

A Cool, Dry Place
ACoolDryPlacePoster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by John N. Smith
Written byMatthew McDuffie
Based onDance Real Slow
by Michael Grant Jaffe
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJean Lépine
Edited by Susan Shipton
Music by Curt Sobel
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 6, 1998 (1998-11-06)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$4,390 [1]

A Cool, Dry Place is a 1998 American drama film directed by John N. Smith and written by Matthew McDuffie, based on the 1996 novel Dance Real Slow by Michael Grant Jaffe. The film stars Vince Vaughn, Monica Potter, Joey Lauren Adams and Bobby Moat. It received a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 6, 1998, by 20th Century Fox.

Contents

Plot

Single father Russ gets woken by his five-year-old son Calvin, who is soaked after getting up to mischief in the rain early in the morning. Cleaning him up makes Russ late to the sitter's, who subsequently won't take Calvin because her daughter is ill, so he is forced to bring Calvin to work.

Russ has to balance work as a lawyer with caring for Calvin after wife and mother Kate left them two years ago. The father and son have moved to small-town Kansas from Chicago after Russ's corporate law firm fired him for not always being available due to his son. Although Russ is very experienced in the courtroom, as he's just passed the Kansas bar exam he's assigned the least appealing case. This smaller law firm hired him thanks to his former college roommate Bob. The client Joyce Ives had crashed into a restaurant with her husband Larry's car, for cheating on her with Carol, a waitress there. She's trying to sue the restaurant.

Calvin receives a postcard from his mom saying she misses him, often sending them although she left them 18 months ago. Grandpa sends Calvin a type of jellyfish from Florida. It is obviously dead but Calvin wants to keep it, naming it "Mom". Kate calls, wanting to talk with him, but Russ won't let her.

Russ also coaches the local high school basketball team. He benches the disrespectful Noah for his frequent absences from practice. When Russ and Calvin are in town, Noah's older sister Beth dumps a bag of dog food on Russ's windshield in retaliation. She frightens Calvin, but offers to make it up to the boy by taking him horseback riding.

Afterwards over lunch, Beth asks Russ out. As the babysitter is not available, she makes them dinner and spends the evening with them. After Calvin falls asleep, Beth and Russ are intimate and drawn into a romantic relationship. This is interrupted when Kate reappears, wanting to reassert herself in her son's life. She calls when Beth is still there the following morning while Russ is showering, so she leaves abruptly. Kate shows up minutes later and Russ is resentful and suspicious of her. She initially says she's available while he admits he's seeing someone.

Russ begins to feel torn between the two women and about what to do with Calvin. Kate's sudden appearance leads him to doubt his ability to raise his son on his own and in his own parenting skills. After a third day with her visit, she stays until late so he lets her stay the night.

A late call from the police gets Russ out to collect Noah who was in a collision and is drunk. He lets him sleep it off in the living room. Later that night, just as Russ starts to think he might reconcile with Kate, she confesses that not only has she fallen in love with someone else, but that she probably never even loved him.

In the morning Beth comes to collect Noah. When she sees Kate coming downstairs looking for Russ, she rushes out. When he follows Beth out, although he insists that things are over with Kate she says she doesn't want to get caught up in it and leaves.

While Russ is in Dallas interviewing for his dream job at a major law firm, he leaves Calvin with the neighbor Charlotte to stay overnight. On his return, when he goes to pick him up he discovers Kate recently has run off with Calvin to Cincinnati.

When Russ realizes the boy is missing, he talks to Beth, who convinces him that Calvin needs him and he must try to get him back. Russ turns down the job in Dallas, and drives to Cincinnati. Kate relinquishes Calvin back to Russ after acknowledging that she can't handle it, and he and Calvin return to Kansas and Beth.

Cast

Production

Author Michael Grant Jaffe first wrote the manuscript for his novel Dance Real Slow in the early 1990s while working as a reporter at Sports Illustrated . [2] Before the novel was published in 1996, Fox 2000 secured the movie rights for six figures. [2] Matthew McDuffie then adapted the book into a screenplay. The film became titled A Cool, Dry Place, which was Jaffe's original title for his book. [2]

Chris O'Donnell was initially attached in the lead role, but the actor's wedding conflicted with the filming schedule and he was also thought of as too young by some producers. [2] The film was shot in Ontario, with locations including Toronto [3] and the town of Lindsay (now part of the city of Kawartha Lakes). [2]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 54% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10. [4]

In a review for Variety , Lael Loewenstein wrote, "Vaughn does what he can with the part, but his unimpassioned demeanor obscures the vulnerability that would have made Russ a more empathetic character. One craves the tenderness of Tom Hanks' widower dad in Sleepless in Seattle or the sentimental journey of Dustin Hoffman's divorced father in Kramer vs. Kramer , but Vaughn's Russ doesn't feel as lived-in as those memorable performances." [5] Other criticisms were of the script's melodramatic aspects and that the characters were underwritten. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ordinary People</i> 1980 film by Robert Redford

Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his feature directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of a wealthy family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.

<i>Kate & Leopold</i> 2001 romantic comedy film by James Mangold

Kate & Leopold is a 2001 American romantic-comedy fantasy film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart, who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold, through a time portal from 19th‑century New York to the present, where Leopold and Stuart's ex‑girlfriend, Kate, fall in love with each other.

<i>Bongwater</i> (film) 1998 American film

Bongwater is a 1998 American black comedy film directed by Richard Sears and starring Luke Wilson, Alicia Witt, Amy Locane, Brittany Murphy, Jack Black and Andy Dick. Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Michael Hornburg, the film is set in Portland, Oregon, and follows an aspiring artist and marijuana dealer and his relationship with a tempestuous woman he meets through a client.

<i>Be Cool</i> 2005 film by F. Gary Gray

Be Cool is a 2005 American crime comedy film based on Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name, which was the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel Get Shorty. The movie is the sequel to the 1995 film adaptation of Get Shorty, and the second installment overall in the Get Shorty franchise. The plot follows mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the music industry. This was Robert Pastorelli's final film in addition to Anna Nicole Smith's final feature film as Pastorelli died one year before its theatrical release.

<i>Catch and Release</i> (2006 film) 2006 American film

Catch and Release is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Susannah Grant, her only film as director thus far, and starring Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, Sam Jaeger and Juliette Lewis. In the film, after a woman's fiancé dies, she seeks comfort in his friends, learning his secrets while falling for his best friend. Filming took place in 2005 in Vancouver and Boulder, Colorado. Catch and Release premiered at the Austin Film Festival on October 20, 2006, and was released in the United States on January 26, 2007. The film bombed at the box office, earning $16 million against a $25 million budget.

<i>Chasing Papi</i> 2003 film by Linda Mendoza

Chasing Papi is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Linda Mendoza and starring Roselyn Sánchez, Sofía Vergara, Jaci Velasquez, and Eduardo Verástegui. The women discover that their boyfriend has been dating all three of them at the same time—a discovery that leads them on an adventure throughout Los Angeles, California.

<i>Nancy Drew</i> (2007 film) 2007 American mystery thriller film

Nancy Drew is a 2007 American mystery comedy film loosely based on the series of mystery novels about the titular teen detective of the same name by Edward Stratemeyer. It stars Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew, with Josh Flitter and Max Thieriot. Directed by Andrew Fleming, the film follows Nancy Drew (Roberts) as she moves to Los Angeles with her father Carson on an extended business trip and stumbles across evidence of an unsolved mystery involving the death of a murdered movie star, prompting Nancy to solve the cold case. It was released in theaters on June 15, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critical reactions were mixed, but the film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

<i>The Ten</i> (film) 2007 American film

The Ten is a 2007 anthology comedy film directed by David Wain, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ken Marino. It was released through ThinkFilm. The film was released on August 3, 2007. The DVD was released on January 15, 2008. It is an international co-production between the United States and Mexico. It received mixed reviews.

Let It Snow is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Adam Marcus and written and produced by Kipp Marcus. The film stars Marcus, Alice Dylan, Bernadette Peters, Larry Pine, Henry Simmons, Judith Malina, and Miraim Shor. The story involves a young man who finds love during "snow days" time off from high school, but spends years finding his true self. He is haunted by the family "curse"—as told to him by his grandmother—that the men in the family are doomed.

<i>The Night Flier</i> (film) 1997 American horror film

The Night Flier is a 1997 American horror film based on the 1988 short story of the same name by Stephen King. Directed and co-written by Mark Pavia, the film stars Miguel Ferrer as Richard Dees, a tabloid reporter who, while investigating a series of murders committed in airfields, begins to suspect that the killer may be a vampire.

<i>Just a Little Harmless Sex</i> 1999 film by Rick Rosenthal

Just a Little Harmless Sex is a 1999 American romantic sex comedy film which revolves around a stranded motorist 's offer to perform oral sex on a monogamous man who stops to help her. The unlikely good Samaritan must telephone his wife to bail him out in the middle of the night upon his arrest for the encounter. She throws him out of the house just a few days later and goes out with her friends to enjoy a sexy night on the town. The denouement takes place when all the parties meet at a local nightclub for explanations and apologies. The film was directed by Rick Rosenthal, written by Roger Mills and Marti Noxon, and stars Alison Eastwood and Jonathan Silverman.

<i>Four Christmases</i> 2008 American Christmas comedy film

Four Christmases is a 2008 American Christmas comedy-drama film starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon with Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Voight, and Sissy Spacek in supporting roles. The film is director Seth Gordon's first studio feature film. It tells the story of a couple who must travel to four family parties after their vacation plans get canceled due to dense fog. The film was produced by New Line Cinema and Spyglass Entertainment and released by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 26, 2008.

<i>Disaster Movie</i> 2008 American superhero comedy film

Disaster Movie is a 2008 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Peter Safran, Friedberg, and Seltzer. It stars Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Gary "G Thang" Johnson, Crista Flanagan, Nicole Parker, Ike Barinholtz, Carmen Electra, Tony Cox, and Kim Kardashian in her feature film debut. It was released on August 29, 2008, by Lionsgate. The film is mainly a parody of the disaster film genre, although it also references many other films, TV shows, people, and pop culture events of the time.

<i>Ride</i> (1998 film) 1998 film by Millicent Shelton

Ride is a 1998 American comedy film written and directed by Millicent Shelton. It stars Malik Yoba, Melissa De Sousa, John Witherspoon, and Fredro Starr.

<i>There Goes My Baby</i> (film) 1994 American film

There Goes My Baby is a 1994 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Floyd Mutrux and starring Dermot Mulroney, Rick Schroder, Noah Wyle, Lucy Deakins, and Kelli Williams.

<i>The Locusts</i> (film) 1997 American film

The Locusts is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by John Patrick Kelley and starring Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Davies, Kate Capshaw, Paul Rudd, and Ashley Judd. The score was composed by Carter Burwell.

<i>Bruno</i> (2000 film) 2000 American film

Bruno is a 2000 American comedy film starring Alex D. Linz and Shirley MacLaine. The film is the first and, as of 2021, the only film ever directed by MacLaine.

The Girls' Room is a 2000 comedy-drama film. It is the first film by director Irene Turner.

<i>The Kissing Booth</i> 2018 American teen romantic comedy film

The Kissing Booth is a 2018 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Vince Marcello, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. It stars Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney. The film follows Elle (King), a quirky, late blooming teenager whose budding romance with high school senior and bad boy Noah (Elordi) puts her lifelong friendship with Noah's younger brother Lee (Courtney) in jeopardy.

<i>The Kissing Booth 2</i> 2020 film by Vince Marcello

The Kissing Booth 2 is a 2020 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Vince Marcello and written by Marcello and Jay Arnold. As a direct sequel to the 2018 film The Kissing Booth and the second installment in the Kissing Booth trilogy, the film stars Joey King, Joel Courtney and Jacob Elordi.

References

  1. "A Cool, Dry Place". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Grant Jaffe, Michael (March 12, 1999). "Bringing A Cool, Dry Place to the big screen". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  3. "A Cool, Dry Place". Turner Classic Movie Database . Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  4. "A Cool, Dry Place". Rotten Tomatoes .
  5. 1 2 Loewenstein, Lael (February 5, 1999). "A Cool, Dry Place". Variety . Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  6. "A Cool, Dry Place". TV Guide . Retrieved October 3, 2022.