CONGO (1995) ** Militant revolutionaries, plane crashes, hippopotamus attack, snakes, earthquakes, volcanoes, white water rafting, parachuting, explosions, lots and lots of bad gorillas, scary African tribesmen, and the people making the film are all obviously taking it very seriously. Except when they definitely aren't, which is whenever Tim Curry is on screen. Most of which is too bad. I've never read his stuff (maybe a paragraph or two), so I can't make a definitive statement, obviously, but my sense is that Michael Crighton doesn't have enough confidence in his storytelling to avoid creating a disaster every few pages (thereby creating a literary one), and that the guys directing his pulp "thrillers" lack the cojones to give them the proper Ed Wood treatment. So it's treated deferentially, with the occasional nod at the obvious thrown in as slapstick. Curry and Ernie Hudson are good choices for Romanian and (I guess) British Congolese soldiers of fortune. Neither have half a clue as to what accent they're shooting for, but only Tim has the good sense to blow it all out of proportion. Which puts him in a different film, as is so often his wont, I think. Ernie's tough-no one was much badder than Winston Zedimore-but the accent coupled with the hair-do emasculate his character in ways that are apparently irredeemable. They're good actors, fun to watch ply their craft under any circumstances, but cut off at the knees by the crappy storyline and obeisant treatment. Laura Linney is somehow convincing in her character, without making it an interesting one, which puts her in still a third or fourth film. None of these other films is likely to be very good, but this one has the distinction of being where they intersect. Gorilla suits have come a long way, though.
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