The Madness Within (Review)
For All It’s grand Aspirations, The Madness Within Falls Short.
Look, I don’t know anything about Hunter G. Williams other than he’s obviously the captain of the shit that is The Madness Within. Checking out his IMDB page, it seems like he’s got plenty of experience under his belt when it comes to producing and acting. So I have to ask, how did The Madness Within go so wrong? The cinematography is harsh and stagnant, with little attention paid to composition other than making sure characters are actually in the shot. The editing is jarring with seemingly no conscious thought put into pacing or scene transitions. Don’t even get me started on the dialogue, which is made all the more cumbersome due to a lack of chemistry between actors. It is very much a film that has the look and feel of something you might stumble upon at 1 in the morning on Cinemax.
The Madness Within seems very much like it wants to be Entourage. It follows a producer, Russ (played by writer/director/producer Hunter G. Williams), who ends up in a downward spiral after a series of incidents turns his life upside down. The film is essentially a look at the sleazy underworld of Hollywood with prostitutes (Tessa Farrell), mobsters (Arber Mehmeti), and screw-ups (Edin Gali). Of course, Russ is hardly innocent when it comes to his life ending up in shambles. He’s a drug addict fond of judging people without knowing them and has his fair share of secrets. More than that though, he seems to embody the cliche of a fast-talking, sleazy movie producer who lies to get what he wants but turns hypocritical when anyone else hides anything from him.
For a movie titled The Madness Within there’s very little madness to be seen at any point in the film. Despite it’s best efforts to be gritty and edgy, it’s pretty tame and bland. Sure, there’s plenty of drugs and sex, even a little violence, but overall it’s a pretty pedestrian tale. In fact, I’ve seen worse any given Sunday night on HBO. It’s idea of madness is what I would consider gratuitousness. There are several scenes with characters doing tons of cocaine, enough F-bombs to make Scorsese blush, and plenty of soft-focus sex scenes (even an orgy!). The film starts with a Charles Bukowski quote, so you can pretty well guess where a lot of the inspiration comes from. It all feels a little too desperate to be “cool.” Like that time when you’re 12-year-old cousin told you that he “totally felt a boob over summer break” and then describes it feeling like a warm water balloon.
Visually, The Madness Within is a bit of a mess. The cinematography has a very harsh digital feel that cheapens many of the shots. Transitions are vague pans across city skylines that are so brief it’s hard to establish where the next scene is taking place. We’re to believe that many of them take place in swanky homes or lofts, but they’re clearly hotel rooms that were rented for the shoot (you can see bar guards and escape plans on the doors). These issues are exasperated by the editing that gives The Madness Within a lurching feel, like a teenager learning to drive who doesn’t realize you should only use one foot at a time. Scenes appear rushed to end as the film travels at a breakneck speed and don’t even get me started on the montages that breeze over things like character development. Worst of all, it undermines any chance of laughable moments because of how wonky the timing is with the jokes.
The film clearly wants to be a story about one man’s tailspin as his life hits bottom. However, it lacks the emotional depth to make any of the devastating moments truly impactful. The initial catalyst is a break with his girlfriend who he discovers is a prostitute. Their entire relationship seems to be built around sex, with a quick montage to show them doing fun things like going on a hot air balloon ride, wandering an old west town, and laughing. So, when they break up, it’s not exactly heartbreaking. This goes for most of the major incidents in The Madness Within, they all feel shallow and pedantic. More than that, it’s hard not to blame Russ for everything that happens to him, because he’s not exactly an inspiring hero.
Despite what my family and friends might say, I hate being a jerk. I don’t like ripping things apart, especially when they are clearly passion projects. Usually, I can breeze over mistakes and find positives (or at least I can try to). Honestly, though, The Madness Within feels cheap and rushed. It’s as though Williams was so impatient to see the film made that he failed to be picky with the cast, crew, locations, and equipment used to tell his story. A rewrite here, holding off on casting until a better actor came along there, and maybe The Madness Within would have been able to really tell the story it wanted to.
