Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 10/25/2002(USA
Release Date: 03/18/2003
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 106 Minutes
Flags: Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Live/Artisan
Writer/director
Dylan Kidd got a chance to make his script for
Roger Dodger into a feature film when he boldly approached
Campbell Scott in a café in Greenwich Village and made his pitch. Eventually,
Scott would agree to executive produce and star in the film, and was responsible for bringing
Jennifer Beals and
Isabella Rossellini onboard.
Scott stars as the eponymous
Roger, a successful New York ad man and self-proclaimed master of reading and manipulating women. The film begins with
Roger out for drinks with his co-workers and demonstrating his verbal gifts. "Words are my stock in trade," he explains as he expounds. But he soon learns that his boss,
Joyce (
Rossellini), wants to end their clandestine sexual relationship.
Roger gets another shock when his teenaged nephew,
Nick (
Jesse Eisenberg of TV's
Get Real), shows up unannounced the next day at his job.
Nick explains that he's in town for an interview at Columbia and soon admits that he wants
Roger to take him out and give him a crash course on women. Soon the pair is out carousing, but when they run into the lovely
Andrea (
Elizabeth Berkley) and her friend,
Sophie (
Jennifer Beals),
Roger discovers that despite
Nick's sexual desperation, the teen is temperamentally unsuited to
Roger's transparent womanizing mode of operation. In short,
Nick is a sweet, open, and sensitive boy, while
Roger proves himself to be a misogynist pig. Their differences grow even starker when
Roger decides to crash a party
Joyce is throwing that night, and brings
Nick along.
Roger Dodger was named the Best Narrative Feature in competition at
the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival.
~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide