Experience has taught us that Ethan Hawke is a better actor than a novelist and a better novelist than a screenwriter-director, writes Michael Dwyer.
THE HOTTEST STATE
Directed by Ethan Hawke. Starring Mark Webber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Laura Linney, Michelle Williams, Sonia Braga, Ethan Hawke, Frank Whaley 15 cert
His second outing as a director (after the pretentious Chelsea Walls) affirms that view.
The Hottest Stateis a relationship drama, based on his semi-autobiographical novel of William Harding, a young Texan who moves to New York to further his acting ambitions.
It begins promisingly enough when Harding falls for an attractive aspirant singer-songwriter (Moreno), and their affair becomes fraught with problems.
Hawke features as the struggling actor's father in this rambling, all-too-loquacious movie.
While he elicits capable performances all round, the movie gradually creaks under its self-indulgent contrivances. It goes directly to DVD here from Monday next.
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