Oscar®-winner Adrien Brody has a nifty role in Dummy as a shy loser whose life is transformed by... ventriloquism. Living with his parents and his caustic sister (Illeana Douglas in good form), tongue-tied Steven can't hold a conversation to save his life--until he sits a wooden dummy on his knee. Others find this kind of creepy, but Steven parlays his newfound voice into a date with his pretty lady at the unemployment office (she's played by Vera Farmiga, from 15 Minutes, a soulful actress destined for big things). Writer-director Greg Pritikin doesn't oversell this modest premise, instead nicely filling in the corners with sly comedy and character bits. Milla Jovovich plays Steven's punk-rock buddy, and Jessica Walter and Ron Leibman are his parents--it's a surprisingly strong cast for an indie effort. Dummy won a release when Brody got the Oscar for The Pianist, but this is a worthy and entertaining picture all on its own. --Robert Horton
(15 votes)
2.
A Comedy About Finding Your Voice Before You Lose Your Mind.
Academy Award winner Adrien Brody stars as a lovable loser who finds his inner voice by becoming a ventriloquist.
Steven Schoichet (Brody) is in a rut: he lives at home with his crazed parents and weird sister, Heidi (Illeana Douglas), and is stuck in a dead-end job - until he decides to follow his bliss at the urging of his outrageous friend, Fangora (Milla Jovovich). Buying a ventriloquist dummy, he hits the small-time comedy circuit to the horror of his family and the delight of his beautiful job counselor, Lorena (Vera Farmiga), who becomes his biggest fan... and then, his first love, in this hysterical romantic comedy, proving the dumbest thing you can do is not to follow your dream.
(13 votes)
3.
Family, friendship and romance find a voice in Dummy, the smartly offbeat and charming debut comedy from writer and director Greg Pritikin. Steven Schoichet (Adrien Brody, Academy Award® winner for The Pianist) is browbeaten at every turn, by his family, his dead-end job, the faceless suburb where he still lives at home. That is until he decides to make a change. Ventriloquism. Hey, a dream’s a dream.
His family barely pays him enough attention to even dismiss the idea – his mother (Jessica Walter, Slums of Beverly Hills) is only concerned that he eat something, and his father (Ron Liebman, Tony Award® winner for “Angels In America”) only thinks of his model ships. Steven’s sister (Illeana Douglas, Grace of My Heart) recently broke off her engagement to an unstable accountant (Jared Harris, Happiness), which makes her career as a wedding planner an emotional minefield. His only supporter is neighbor Fangora (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil) – really it’s Fanny, but that’s not very punk – who has her own aspirations to stardom.
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