Film Review: Todd Solondz’s ‘Dark Horse’ Brilliantly Deconstructs Man-Child Pathology

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CHICAGO – Todd Solondz has always been prone to making films about people that most filmmakers wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. His characters crave love but are the opposite of lovable. They inspire the sort of laughter spawned not from amusement but from discomfort, sadness, and occasionally, recognition. It’s refreshing to see characters utterly devoid of pre-packaged, studio-approved appeal.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

In many ways, “Dark Horse” is the morose flip side of Judd Apatow’s lighthearted comedies about overgrown man-children whose arrested development is signified by their large collections of action figures and unfamiliarity with female reproductive organs. These guys don’t have a whole lot going for them, but they’re still able to attract gorgeous women with their neurotic sweetness. Though Apatow’s films are far more insightful than most Hollywood rom-coms, their plot arcs have more in common with escapism than the real world.

Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Dark Horse” in our reviews section.

With “Dark Horse,” Solondz turns the Apatow formula on its head. The film’s 35-year-old antihero, Abe (Jordan Gelber), has bought into the American illusion that the underdog is always rewarded, and has wasted his life waiting for his Hollywood ending to arrive. His self-confidence is overwhelming, but his ambition is apparently nonexistent. He still hasn’t moved out of the family home, where he is consistently doted upon by his smothering mother, Phyllis (Mia Farrow), while his father, Jackie (Christopher Walken), regards him with catatonic disappointment. Though Abe has landed a desk job at his father’s office, he lacks the drive to complete or even understand his duties, opting instead to have a co-worker, Marie (Donna Murphy), do his job for him. He yearns for his father’s approval, but can’t even put forth the effort to get his spreadsheets done. This non-work ethic is clearly reflected in Abe’s personal life, as he asks a pretty yet sullen woman, Miranda (Selma Blair, reprising her role from Solondz’s “Storytelling”), for her hand in marriage before making any solid attempt to court her. In an overmedicated haze of depression, Miranda sizes up Abe and sees little to her liking, but drifts toward him anyway purely out of desperation. Her reaction their first kiss: “Things could’ve been so much worse.”

Continue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “Dark Horse” review.

Selma Blair and Jordan Gelber star in Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse.
Photo credit: Brainstorm Media