Venice 2021: The actors’ megawatt charisma is enough to carry the show, at least for a while
To trot out the old adage, “scratch a cynic, find an idealist” in reference to “Official Competition,” a modest showbiz sendup that premiered, fittingly enough, in official competition at the Venice film festival on Saturday might be putting it a bit too harshly. Frankly, it wouldn’t take more than the morning breeze or the soft touch of an infant to wipe away the thin layer of satire that (barely) covers a deeper, almost evangelical belief in the power of movie stars. In some ways you could call it a throwback in the sense that it runs totally counter to the high-concept, IP-driven model of recent Hollywood output. “Official Competition” co-directors Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn would rather offer viewers a no-concept, light and breezy big-screen hangout, betting that audiences will turn out to watch a pair of beloved celebs cut loose, and that the actors’ megawatt charisma will be enough to carry the show. At least for a certain amount of time, the bet pays off. Before we’re allowed the warm pleasure of seeing Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas at play, we start with a bit of scene-setting: Fresh off his 80 th birthday, pharmaceutical magnate/billionaire Humberto Suarez (José Luis Gómez) wants to secure his legacy and his name for perpetuity. Maybe he’ll finance a brilliant art film, or maybe he’ll build a bridge. You can guess what idea wins out (though, to be fair, he also builds the bridge). If an American studio comedy might do more with the idea of a deep-pocketed old coot happy to pay for anything, here the premise serves a more utilitarian aesthetic role: It offers a convenient excuse to set the action in a handsome, Frank Gehry-inspired art institute the financier owns instead of the more drab decors of a soundstage, which would hardly make for the most visually interesting playground.
