Special.

"Written and directed by Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore, Special puts an indie spin on the current Hollywood vogue for moody superhero psychodrama," writes Nathan Lee in the New York Times. "Or looked at another way, it puts a Hollywood spin on the indie vogue for tales of solipsistic man-boys. Either way, it doesn't quite go far enough as psychological study or cultural commentary."

"Special concerns a lonely, undistinguished parking ticket attendant and comic-book fan named Les (Michael Rapaport) who agrees to participate in a clinical trial for a drug called Special and, subsequently, begins developing superpowers," explains Nick Schager in Slant. "Or at least he thinks he does, as the drug (designed to suppress 'self-doubt') soon amplifies his own fantasies - of being powerful, important, brave, somebody - to the point of making him outright delusional."

Updated through 11/22.

"Rappaport's befuddled sincerity has never registered so poignantly, but given its singular premise, for the film to waste an easy opportunity to satirize vigilante do-goodery and pharmaceutical dependence is, well, villainous," writes Aaron Hillis in the Voice.

Scott Tobias at the AV Club: "With its ironic take on heroism and a dreamy music score by Tom Wolfe and Manish Raval, Special recalls a minor-key Donnie Darko, but its vision is much more limited, and it sinks into Indiewood cliché whenever it reaches for profundity. But many people will see themselves in Rapaport's half-crazed stab at greatness."

Mark Holcomb in Time Out New York: "[S]implistic moralizing played this straight is a hard pill to swallow - particularly when it's coated in oppressive, masochistic self-righteousness."

"Special has a tragic core, but not an entirely dour one," writes Eric Kohn in the New York Press. "A great genre film dissects authentic problems without attempting to supplant them. Reasonably enough, Special belongs to that category with the rest of Magnet's 'Six Shooter Series.' The release strategy makes a lot of sense for this intelligently curated collection. Each title in the series either upends genre expectations (such as Special and the recently released Swedish vampire coming-of-age tale Let the Right One In) or reduces them to their primal states (the sleek time-travel thriller Timecrimes and Splinter, in which a carnivorous, parasitic beast attacks an abandoned gas station)."

Update: IFC's Matt Singer writes the "Five Rules for Making an Indie Superhero Movie."

Update, 11/22: "Special is good enough in various particulars that its token theatrical release - nearly three years after its Sundance Film Festival debut - is more than slightly bittersweet," writes Keith Uhlich at the House Next Door. "The 'superhero-as-fragile-martyr' theme is nothing new, but Haberman and Passmore go beyond any easy elitist outs."

Posted by dwhudson at November 21, 2008 8:30 AM