Actor Ethan Hawke deftly embodies famed American musical lyricist Lorenz Hart. And the result is an engrossing if difficult examination of a brilliant man consumed by his lusts. The script is tight and witty but it’s also littered with crude sexual jokes (including some in the LGBT arena), heavy boozing and foul profanity.
What a joke.
Lorenz Hart just had to sit through nearly 3 hours of this atrocious mess of a musical called Oklahoma! Everyone is crowing about it, but frankly, he barely kept himself from either barking out in laughter or barfing up in the balcony. I mean, come on, he’s Lorenz Hart for crying out loud. He knows when a musical is trash.
Now, Hart’ll always be the first one to proclaim that Richard Rodgers is a genius. But his own work with the master was so superior to this lyrical pig swill that Oscar Hammerstein just cranked out. It’s not even debatable.
Nobody knows this, but Rodgers came to Hart with the cowpoke project first. But that hokey, sentimental stuff just wasn’t for him. No. Hart far prefers something witty and urbane. Give him sophisticated and polished over audience-pandering cow patties any day.
However, now that Hart is propping himself up at the Sardi’s bar, ready to trade crisp quips and sexual gags with his favorite bartender, Eddie, he’s got to take a moment. He needs to quickly figure out how best to handle the near future.
First, he’ll need to deftly maneuver Rodgers when he arrives. No talking about Hammerstein’s grotesquely obvious rhyme schemes or anything to do with manure! … And he’ll need to rein in the drinking. Just one shot, maybe two. His drinking is what caused waves with Rodgers to begin with.
The second thing on his agenda is wooing the beautifully perfect Elizabeth when she shows up. Hart’s career may have skipped a beat. But this pretty young thing will lift his spirits. Sure, she just turned 20, and he’s 47. But a cup full of charming wit and open adoration will surely go a long way to win her affections. If there is one thing Hart knows, it’s how to string words together.
OK. So, let’s get warmed up with some witty exchanges with Eddie. Something quick and saucy. Maybe put together a few whipcrack alliterations with a joke about an ambidextrous barman’s love life.
This is gonna be a night to remember. And Hart will be the star. You’ll see.
It’s clear that Richard Rodgers cares about his alcoholic former partner. He even tries to throw a revival rewrite of A Connecticut Yankee in Hart’s direction as a peace offering. (Though Hart doesn’t recognize that Rodgers has officially moved on from their partnership.)
Hart is obviously a brilliant individual. But despite his tangible desire for emotional connection, he makes healing relationships virtually impossible. Even so, the movie plays out with a number of people trying to offer small bits of help to the declining but oblivious Hart, giving the film a somewhat bittersweet nature.
Rodgers complains to Hart about the alcoholism. He says he respects Hart’s work “but not his sin.” Hart proclaims, “Jesus wept,” at one juncture.
Several people raise questions about Hart’s sexual inclinations—most believing he is gay. Hart says he has attractions in both directions. And he jokes profusely about his and other people’s sexual attractions. In fact, he reports proposing to a woman who declared that she loves him, “just not in that way.”
In that setting, jokes about male and female body parts, masturbation and gay and straight sexuality abound.
We see a heavily inebriated man stumble through a rainy alley before collapsing and apparently dying.
There are 14 f-words and a half-dozen s-words mixed in with uses of ‘h—” and “b–ch.” We hear a handful of crude references to male and female body parts and oral sex. God’s and Jesus’ names are misused a total of 11 times (three of those combining God with “d–n”).
Lorenz Hart declares that he will no longer drink. But we see him continue to down shots of booze throughout the evening, slowly becoming intoxicated. The character interactions also spell out how thoroughly alcoholism has decimated his life.
Scores of other people drink wine, champagne and shots of booze in celebration over the success of Oklahoma! Various people in the 1940s bar setting smoke cigarettes and cigars.
There are a few jokes involving bodily fluids.
With all the feel of an intimate tragicomedy stage play, Blue Moon gives Ethan Hawke an hour and 40-minute platform with which to showcase his acting chops. And the actor does an admirable job delivering a layered portrayal of American musical lyricist Lorenz Hart.
In truth, though, this tight chamber drama keeps our attention as well as it does because of a combination of both Hawke’s skills and a well-crafted script. It’s a witty, melancholic text that perfectly mirrors the Rodgers and Hart song, “This Funny World,” that plays during the movie’s credits.
With Richard Linklater’s measured direction, the film challenges us to see ourselves in the brilliant Hart: a man humbled by his own crippling frailties. Blue Moon doesn’t venture into spiritual arenas, but with the right tip of the head, Hart’s struggles could certainly be seen through that lens—the picture of a fallen man who desperately needs and desires to find a healing connection that he’s incapable of forging on his own.
That perspective alone could fuel some thoughtful post-movie discussions.
Potential viewers should note, however, that Blue Moon and its acerbically quick-witted script don’t hesitate to wade into Hart’s bisexual longings or other characters’ sexual quips and stories, along with a steady stream of profanely foul language and booze swilling.
So don’t go in expecting A Connecticut Yankee.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
