Film Review: "Metropolitan" (dir. Whit Stillman) 1990

Before Noah Baumbach released his self indulgent, mentally masturbatory masterpiece Kicking and Screaming in 1995, Whit Stillman was self producing low budget movies about richer, classier, and better read young people. Metropolitan, is a phenomenal example of what a clear vision, excellent script and pleasantly unknown actors can add to a very basic premise.

The film's main character and entry point into the lives of the Upper East Side elite is Tom Townsend, a Fourier obsessed Princetonian who begrudgingly hangs out with a bunch of bourgie high school students during the Cotillion season. Thus, this show is about the kids on Gossip Girl who are spending their old money on vintage copies of classical philosophical novels and discussing it in the parlor instead of breaking into the school's pool to skinny dip.

Metropolitan has the same talky, self indulgent style of Baumbach and to a lesser extent, Wes Anderson. This style of film is also a precursor to the mumblecore films released in the last few years, although mostly in style and not in substance. Your enjoyment of this movie depends directly on your ability to watch young people talk about nothing but themselves, their impending futures and Jane Austen.

What most people remember about Metropolitan is Taylor Nichol's speech on the urban haute bourgeoisie, which is a rebranding of the more traditional term, WASP. It's clever but the real draw here is the ego maniacal charmer Chris Eigeman, also featured in Kicking and Screaming (oh and Maid in Manhattan). His character Nick Smith monopolizes the screen and the thick silence of the parlors and his flawed existence is a perfect foil for Tom Townsend's fear of the wealthy and Charlie Black's blind love of all things bourgie. It's easy to resent Charlie Black's adherence to his old money values but Taylor Nichol's performance makes Charlie as endearing as he can be. His adherence seems to come not only from fear of the unknown (or worse, being poor) but from a love of tradition.

The movie doesn't have the thickest of plots since it mostly takes place in the parlors and revolves around the incestuous romantic entanglements of four debutants and their suitors. The final third seems a bit ridiculous, especially tonally, where Stillman can't quite figure out where to place the characters at the end. Additionally, the female characters, especially Audrey, seem a bit one dimensional. Still, Metropolitan is a thrilling debut from Mr. Stillman and I look forward to seeing the next two films in his comedy of manners trilogy, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco.

Additional reading on Metropolitan.

Oh and if you look at Taylor Nichol's IMDB page it says he played three different characters on Murder, She Wrote, two in the same season. If anyone has information on this, please alert the Siblog immediately.