Live Safely<BR>&nbsp;

Live Safely

The Alarmist is based on an off-Broadway play called Life During Wartime and was adapted to the screen by first-time director Evan Dunsky. It`s a strange film but not uninteresting. It`s about a trainee salesman for a home security company - Tommy is a terminal nice-guy as played by David Arquette. His boss Heinrich Gregoris - Stanley Tucci is not quite so nice. He`s into pretending to raid houses in the dead of night where his security systems are to impress the neighbours. Tommy`s first customer is single mom Gale Ancona - Kate Capshaw. And they fall in love - well Tommy falls a bit more in love than Gale we think - but he soldiers on in the relationship trying to fill the role of surrogate parent to Gale`s son who in fact is much more sophisticated than Tommy... Things are rocking along but they come to an abrupt end after Tommy takes a reluctant Gale home to meet his parents. The abrupt switch in the film that happens at this point is a trifle disconcerting. But there are rewards on both sides of the abyss. It`s hard to work out what the film is actually about other than the rather eccentric behaviour of these Californians. However David Arquette brings a sweetness to Tommy which is maybe why the strange turn of events works as well as it does and Stanley Tucci imbues his role with a fine comic intensity. Kate Capshaw and Ryan Reynolds are really good as mother and son. It`s an odd film but I enjoyed its unexpectedness... David`s Comments: An unsettling mixture of dry comedy and rather grim tragedy. Good performances, but not very memorable. I liked the original title (life During Wartime) better.