Posted: 10/23/2011

Father of Invention

(2011)

by Joe Sanders

Available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment on October 25

2 time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects) takes his latest turn on-screen here as Robert Axel, a famous fabricator and TV personality. A fabricator (unlike an inventor) takes two completely different existing inventions and finds a way to put them together in a way that serves a new purpose. Axel has built a billion dollar industry with his fabrications, which include a night light/vaporizer, a vacuum cleaner/hair clipper, and an ab toner/remote control. The malfunctioning of the latter causes its users to get their fingers severed and ultimately leads to Axel’s incarceration in federal prison. After his release ten years later, Axel is thrown back into the world he used to rule; unable to catch a break, his ex-wife (Virginia Madsen) has remarried, his daughter (Camilla Belle) is dealing with her abandonment issues, and his former business partner (John Stamos) has completely taken over Axel’s former empire.

The trailer for Father of Invention calls to mind the Professor’s story arc in the Gilligan’s Island movie, where the gang finally escapes their island and try to adjust to normal life and the Professor keeps inventing things that already exist. This would have made for an interesting conceit in Father of Invention, but it’s definitely a good thing that the film blows past this potentially restrictive idea in order to deliver a far more interesting character study of a man who has lost everything but is willing to do what it takes to win it all back.

Spacey is great in any role and this film is no exception. His performance takes Robert Axel well beyond the arrogant ass he appears to be on the outside. Though many of his actions are fueled by his greedy need to win back his wealth, Axel’s relationship with his daughter is what really humanizes Spacey’s performance. Camilla Belle’s performance as Claire on the other hand is fairly bland. She fills the familiar role of the angst-ridden, angry daughter to annoying perfection. It’s impossible to sympathize with her, and in fact her resisting Axel’s attempts to smooth things over just make the audience like him more.

Other good performances include Heather Graham (The Hangover) and Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine). Graham plays Claire’s lesbian roommate, and while she begins the film as a stereotypical man-hating lesbian, she quickly emerges as a likeable, unique, very well written character. The scenes where she’s interacting with Axel and her students (she’s a middle school gym teacher) stand out as the real treat of this film. Craig Robinson, who plays Axel’s ex-wife’s new husband is made very interesting in that he is a huge fan of Robert Axel and his fabrications. Even Axel has a hard time finding reasons to hate Robinson’s character.

For better or worse, the film is full of consistent characters, except for Troy Coangelo (Johnny Knoxville; Jackass). Without giving too much away, Knoxville begins the film as Axel’s manager at a Walmart-like store, and goes through quite a large change by the end. The problem here is that Coangelo’s arc does not feel organic. We don’t see key moments of change within his character and that tends to drag down his scenes somewhat.

At 93 minutes, the film feels like a solid two hours, which isn’t necessarily a criticism. It feels like a lot of story is covered in the shorter period of time. There may be moments when the audience will tune out and get bored here. It’s not a perfect film, but quite impressive in terms of how it uses its 93 minute runtime.

The only special feature on the DVD is a making-of featurette.

Joe Sanders is a playwright and college instructor in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has a Master’s degree in playwriting and a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University, where he currently teaches Thought and Writing.

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