So guys, are you a Steve or a Stu? This is the question that Jenniphr Goodman's hilarious "The Tao of Steve" asks the male viewers to answer. Do you want to be a smoothie with the ladies (a la Steve McQueen), or do you want to be horribly awkward and never get the girl (a la Stuart Smalley)?
The Tao of Steve - R
Starring:
Donal Logue, Greer Goodman and Nina Jaroslaw
Directed by:
Jenniphr Goodman
Now playing:
Showplace East 11
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Main character Dex is a loveable kindergarten teacher who has amazing success with women and the sexual appetite to match. Forget that he is a 100 pounds overweight, he smokes and drinks and can barely move around, he has a romantic philosophy that gets the women crawling and has his friends envious. Dex's problem? The Tao of Steve refuses to help him win the heart of Syd, an old college friend.
This film won the Outstanding Performance Special Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and it is an honor well bestowed. It is intelligent and funny, refreshing in its own right, but what is perhaps its best quality is that it is a movie full of real people. The audience is not spoon-fed another script of cute characters meeting in some cute way. When the audience leaves the theater they are not disgusted with themselves because they are not as cute as the actors on screen.
Viewers are made to feel ambivalent toward the characters and see all of their flaws. Sure, Dex is brilliant, quoting Kirkegard and Lao Tse through the whole movie, but he is afraid to take the next step in his relationships. Maybe he has more women going in and out of his bedroom than Wilt Chamberlin, but his heart really belongs to Syd. The point is, by the end of the movie, the audience walks away happy and satisfied.
"The Tao of Steve" works because of the thoughtful, understated performance by Donal Logue and the director's seemingly hands-off approach to the film. The film also has the foresight to develop a soundtrack around the premise of the film. Songs like "I Wanna Be (Your Steve McQueen)," "Peanut Butter" and the "'Hawaii Five-O' theme song" permeate each scene effectively.
So are you a Steve or a Stu? As "The Tao of Steve" finally tells us, the most important thing is that you are yourself.
