ROGER DODGER (2002)  ***

Reviewed 10/25/02

Cynical Roger (Campbell Scott), a copy writer in a New York advertising agency who always wants to be the center of attention, believes he’s nailed the way the world works, especially when it comes to male-female relationships.  Then he is rebuffed in his affair with his boss (Isabella Rossellini).  Finding his 16-years old, wet-behind-the-ears nephew Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) in town for an interview at Columbia University, Roger takes Nick up on his request to show him how to be a ladies’ man.  Soon they find themselves in a bar in the company of Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and Sophie (Jennifer Beals).  The first third of the film is filled with the kind of artificial conversation that works better on the stage than the screen, but it gradually gets better as Roger and Nick develop substantial personalities.  Nick represents everything Roger despises, and that Nick can attain through his guilelessness what Roger cannot with his presumed sophistication is a refutation of Roger’s world view.   The movie lets the male viewer get in touch with his inner asshole, but revels a bit too much in Roger’s freedom for amoral snarkiness (not as much as in your typical Neil Labute movie though).  While covering ground trod on in the likes of HURLYBURLY, ROGER DODGER is still a funny, sometimes insightful look at male objectification of women.   The ending represents Roger’s pathetic attempt to save ego, but it’s too cute, too contrived, and a tonal mismatch with the rest of the picture.  The real reason to see the picture is the performances of Scott, Eisenberg, and Beals (but not Berkley).