Nephew of legendary filmmaker Jonathan Demme (Silence of The Lambs; Philadelphia), Ted Demme quickly established himself as a talent all his own with the 1993 Yo! MTV Raps buddy cop comedy, Who’s The Man?, starring Ed Lover and Docter Dré (not that Dr. Dre) as the cop buddies, and featuring Leary in one of his first roles as their angry sergeant.
Developing a deep, lasting friendship off-screen, Demme and Leary would continue to work together successfully on multiple projects over the course of their careers.
Demme’s follow up to Who’s The Man? was Touchstone’s (Disney’s) The Ref, co-written by Oscar-nominee Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King, Living Out Loud), starring Leary in his breakout role.
Leary plays Gus, a wise-cracking cat burglar forced to play marriage counsellor over Christmas when he breaks into the home of duelling spouses played by Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis.
The film underperformed at the box-office, but was well received by critics. Roger Ebert (officially this site’s favourite) gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said, “Ted Demme juggles all these people skillfully. Even though we know where the movie is going (the Ref isn’t really such a bad guy after all), it’s fun to get there.”
Demme also directed Leary’s stand-up specials, No Cure For Cancer (1992), and Lock ‘N Load (1997).
Demme’s follow up picture to The Ref was the 1995 romantic-comedy-drama, Beautiful Girls, written by Scott Rosenberg (Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead).
With shades of Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, and John Sayles‘ Return of The Secaucus 7, Beautiful Girls is a sweet and funny ode to that particular brand of ennui and nostalgia you encounter in your 20s, when you’re too old to act like a teenager anymore, but too young to feel like a real grown up.
The dramedy boasts a ridiculously stacked cast (Matt Dillon, Mira Sorvino, Uma Thurman, Tim Hutton, Noah Emmerich, Michael Rappaport, Rosie O’Donnell, Lauren Holly, David Arquette, Max Perlich, Martha Plimpton, and Natalie Portman (among others).
Portman’s character’s storyline is the only element which has really aged poorly, that of a 13-year-old girl who would be the object of Tim Hutton’s affection if only she were five years older!
Given the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against Hutton in the years since the film’s release, and especially those against cinematographer Adam Kimmel (who also shot Monument Ave, Jesus’ Son, and Capote), a registered sex offender charged with child sex assault in 2010, this cringe-inducing subplot, which seemed harmless to me in 1995 (when I was only 2 years older than Portman’s character), now seems so wildly inappropriate I’m hard pressed to imagine how it wasn’t excised from the shooting script, let alone the finished film before release.
Demme did some very good TV work after Beautiful Girls. He directed two episodes of one of the greatest series in the history of television, Homicide: Life on The Street; one episode of the 6-film anthology series Gun, starring a pre-Sopranos-fame James Gandolfini, with other episodes directed by the likes of the great Robert Altman (The Player, Short Cuts), and the very good James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Corrupter); the Manhattan Miracle segment of the HBO short film anthology, Subway Stories, once again featuring Denis Leary, with contributions from my main man, Abel Ferrara (King of New York, Bad Lieutenant), and Demme’s uncle Jonathan (Melvin & Howard; The Truth About Charlie).
Next came the excellent and overlooked, Monument Ave. starring Denis Leary as a small time Boston car thief who has a crisis of conscious when his own gang kills two members of his family.
Demme followed it up a year later with 1999’s criminally slept-on Eddie Murphy (Coming to America; 48 Hrs)/Martin Lawrence (Bad Boys 1-4; Blue Streak), prison-dramedy, Life.
Produced by Brian Grazer (Backdraft; Ransom), Life stars a perfectly-paired Murphy and Lawrence doing some of their very best work, playing characters with depth, not just delivering punchlines and sight gags.
Written by Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone (the Coen Bros.’ Intolerable Cruelty), Life is the surprisingly empathetic story of two wrongfully convicted New Yorkers incarcerated for life in an all black Mississippi prison camp under the oppressive watch of Nick Cassavetes’ (Delta Force 3; Face/Off) white prison guard.
Where the film truly distinguishes itself is in its second-half, when the story begins to speed up to show Murphy and Lawrence advancing into their golden years.
For the excellent artistry and craft that went into the process of creating the progressive looks for each of the characters through the passing years (not even Cassavetes’ prison guard is spared the ravages of time), prosthetics wizard, Rick Baker (An American Werewolf In London) received an Oscar-nomination for Best Make Up.
Even when it feels more gimmick (Norbit) than inspiration (the barber shop scenes in Coming to America; The Nutty Professor), the truth is that nobody manages to be funnier under the weight of heavy prosthetics than Eddie Murphy. Though Lawrence holds his own here, faring much better than in the Big Mama’s House pictures.
Take a look at the scene in Life where Lawrence finally re-encounters society as an old man.
The scene isn’t played for laughs, cheap or otherwise. The make up-prosethics are used in aid of telling the story, not as a gag.
The scene is truly moving in the way it centers Lawrence in a maelstrom of confusing change with gentle compassion.
Lawrence is like The Man Who Fell To Earth here, an alien in a strange world that he doesn’t recognize or understand.
He may be an alien in this place and time, but we are right there in that moment with him, because of the humanity in the writing, directing, editing and, especially, the performing of this scene, which wouldn’t have been out place in Shawlshank.
Life. Was it Jim Morrison who said, “None of us gets out alive”? No truer words.
Though the film was overlooked upon its initial release, a slow re-appraisal has begun to build:
The Best Martin Lawrence Movies and How to Watch Them Online”. CinemaBlend. April 25, 2022.
The Underrated, Classic Buddy Comedy ‘Life’ Turns 21 Today”. The Shadow League. April 16, 2020.
“Beloved Eddie Murphy Comedy Laughs Its Way into Netflix’s Top 10 Charts”. popculture.com. December 5, 2021.
A Forgotten 90s Eddie Murphy Movie is Now Available on Netflix”. Giant Freakin Robot. December 3, 2021.
Butt, Thomas (January 28, 2023). “‘Life’ Shows Eddie Murphy’s Underused Dramatic Chops”. Collider. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
And probably my favourite thing about it is that it refuses to go out on a melancholy note.
Like Michael Keaton and pals in The Dream Team, and Jim Belushi in Taking Care of Business before them, Murphy and Lawrence escape the hooscow to catch a little of America’s favourite pastime.
In the end, though still bickering like an old married couple, Murphy and Lawrence have truly formed a hard won friendship. Watching that develop slowly over a lifetime locked up together is the film’s true joy.
Also of note in Life, among its wonderful supporting cast, which includes Bernie Mac, Ned Beatty, and a silent Bokeem Woodbine (Strapped; The Sopranos) is Nick Cassavetes.
A talented director in his own right (She’s So Lovely; Alpha Dog), Nick is the son of cinema’s premiere iconic power couple, John Cassavetes (Husbands; Killing of a Chinese Bookie) and Gena Rowlands (Woman Under The Influence; Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth).
The young Cassavetes went on to co-write (with David McKenna) Demme’s next picture, 2001’s Johnny Depp (Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands; Jarmusch’s Dead Man) cocaine epic, Blow.
The film co-starred Penelope Cruz (Vanilla Sky; Almodovar’s Volver), Franka Potente (Run Lola Run; The Bourne Identity) Run, Ethan Supplee (American History X; Wolf of Wall Street); and Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure; Batman Returns), in a rare dramatic part.
Adapted from Bruce Porter’s non-fiction book, the film tells thetrue story of American drug kingpin, George Jung.
Though it grossed $30M over its $53M budget, the film was considered somewhat of a disappointment, drawing unfavourable comparisons to more successful sex, drugs & rock n’ roll saturated dramas of human excesss, like Scorsese’s Goodfellas, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights.
Demme’s final film was as co-director with his The Ref scribe Richard LaGravenese on the excellent documentary A Decade Under The Influence: The 70’s films that changed everything.
The documentary is a cinephile’s dream, featuring interviews with just about all of the luminaries who made the 1970s the true golden age of cinema. It also serves as the ideal syllabus for anyone unfamiliar with the films of the period wanting to know where to start watching.
Demme tragically passed away before the film was released, suffering a fatal heart attack (supposedly as a result of excessive cocaine use) during a celebrity basketball game on January 14, 2002. He was only 38 years young.
And with that, American cinema lost one of its most promising young directors, but he left behind a legacy of 7 wonderful films, all very different from each other in terms of genre but unified by the great warmth and empathy Demme bestowed upon all of his characters. My kind of filmmaker.
Jonathan Demme dedicated 2002’s Charade remake, The Truth About Charlie to his nephew.
TTAC starred a woefully miscast Mark Wahlberg (Basketball Diaries; Boogie Nights) in the Cary Grant role, and a delightful Thandiwe Newton (the underrated 2Pac/Tim Roth addiction drama Gridlock’d; Jonathan Demme’s Beloved) in the Audrey Hepburn role.
The honour was also bestowed upon the younger Demme by P.T. Anderson, who dedicated his 2002 Adam Sandler vehicle, Punch–Drunk Love, to him.
May he rest in peace.