STUTZ (B) - I'm not sure if this is a bold experiment in cinema or a self-indulgent waste of pixels. In which the actor Jonah Hill makes a documentary about his therapist -- because the therapist does have some fascinating methods -- but can't help drag us into his own hangups about growing up as a fatty.
Luckily ol' Dr. Stutz is an engaging subject, with some interesting ideas about coping with human existence, so this isn't just a Millennial pity party. Stutz subscribes to the theory of positive-thinking and stick-to-it-iveness (a lot of pushing through problems), and his tactics get a good workout here. Particularly effective are his crude drawings that help him communicate his ideas to his patients. It's a visual element that carries the film.
The structure here -- meticulously rendered in black-and-white -- is mega-meta. Hill repeatedly remarks on his filmmaking decisions as he goes, notably abandoning the fiction he had been trying to create, that this was going to be put forth as one 90-minute therapy session. At times, this dyspeptic presentation helps illustrate Hill's jangled state of mind (he seems genuinely at a career crossroads as he approaches 40, after quite a run of success), and it opens things up to Stutz's theorizing and focused analysis. Hill's production decisions make him seem more honest.
Both men invite us into their childhoods -- the doctor had a brother who died young, and Hill, a famously fat boy, lost his brother as an adult -- and they display a healthy mutual affection rarely seen among American men. (Stutz's own struggles with Parkinson's disease deepen the bonds here.) Hill needn't bring his mom into the room, but he does, and the scene goes nowhere. But the clutter is a minor distraction, because the meat of the matter is Stutz's body of work, and that is often fascinating. If we have to indulge Hill to get there, there are worse actors to be stuck spending time with.
SR. (B+) - And then there's Robert Downey Jr., whom we expect to be an egomaniac. Here, he documents the final days of the life of his father, the onetime avant-garde bad boy of the American New Wave. Both Downey Jr.'s smiling mug shot and a tearful interlude are in the trailer, so we know going in that this will be as much about him as it is the old man. Once again, the old guy saves the day.
I never got to see my father grow old, never had the chance to be his equal as an adult or get him to open up about his life. That is the gift of "Sr.," which pays homage to the elder Downey's quirky film career and allows the old man wide berth here to flash his directing (and editing) skills one last time. What a precious opportunity to document that final narrative arc, and if it is pampered celebrities engaging in the indulgence ... well, they're the ones who can afford the cameras and the crews to pull it off.
"Sr." is surprisingly down-to-earth. In the end, these two former drug fiends have descended back to Earth -- Sr. has Parkinson's, and Jr. has settled down with an ordinary family structure (wife and adolescent son and daughter) -- and the men's story is relatable on a basic emotional level. Both men have those bedroom eyes, and personality to burn, so this is about as fun as a final tribute can get. Downey Jr. brings in a couple of old dogs -- Alan Arkin and Norman Lear -- to vouch for the father's bonafides.
Not surprisingly, each man's long-term drug addictions get arm's-length treatment (almost reverence), and, like Hill in "Stutz," Downey Jr. has time to check in with his therapist for some coaching. Downey Jr. has fun with the format -- he shoots in classy black-and-white and interrupts the proceedings frequently to spitball ideas with the old man. Also like in "Stutz," there are many meta moments, as Downey Jr., the consummate Gen Xer, can't help but approach this whole endeavor with a firm ironic detachment. It is heartwarming, then, in the end, when he pulls off an effective study of a father (and the man's droll, absurdist films) working with his son to reconcile a complicated past, a wrenching present, and an uncertain future.
BONUS TRACKS
From "Sr.'s" emotional climax, a Cat Stevens deep track, "On the Road to Find Out":
And over the film's final credits, the Dose with "Gone":
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