ALARMIST, THE

"Los Angeles in the '90s - a place where the fear of crime is more rampant than the crime itself - is the backdrop for Evan Dunsky's darkly funny parable of mistrust, The Alarmist. Based on Keith Reddin's play Life During Wartime, the film has an interesting premise and some wonderfully entertaining moments. This study of paranoia in many forms, and its effect on people, is a bit like a cross between a Noam Chomsky commentary, an Arthur Miller play and a Tarantino movie. While some scenes are laugh-out-loud funny, the humour is also very black, which will not appeal to all tastes. The Alarmist moves along at a bright pace; but the second half of the film is weaker than the first, and the ending is amusing without being entirely convincing. David Arquette handles the role of Tommy with assurance, but he is outshone by the marvellous Stanley Tucci as Heinrich. His brilliant comic touch is just right for this role. Kate Capshaw is solid as Gale; as is Mary McCormack as Heinrich's assistant Sally. Dunsky directs with a restrained style and largely without resorting to flashy effects. Although not without its flaws, The Alarmist is an intriguing and often hilarious look at urban life in the late 1990's."
David Edwards

"An awful, pointless attempt at black comedy. I don't think I laughed once – and certainly not at David Arquette, who's been funny before in small parts, but seems limited and irritating over the length of a whole film. Arquette's character here is like his dopey deputy from the Scream films overlaid with manic gestures borrowed from Rupert Pupkin, the arm-flailing nerd played by Robert de Niro in The King Of Comedy. Actually, this film is unfunny in such a creepy way it could almost have been directed by Rupert Pupkin. Almost every scene feels familiar yet subtly, unsettlingly wrong. In intention, at least, the filmmakers hold tight to the current US 'indie' formula: a parade of geeks and freaks a la the Coen brothers (a rabid gun nut, a family of slack-jawed yokels) plus a bit of David Lynch's all-American italicised surrealism and some half-heartedly nasty gross-out effects. (Typical punchline: a woman talks about her husband fondling her from under the table, then winds up with 'I got athlete's foot on my vagina!') Why do our local distributors keep buying these obscure, terrible American movies, while ignoring almost everything made by the rest of the world? Pondering this question may help pass the time if you're somehow tricked into watching The Alarmist."
Jake Wilson