- Nobel Son
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Nobel Son 
Promotional posterDirected by Randall Miller Produced by Art Klein
Michael Ravine
Tom SoulanilleWritten by Randall Miller
Jody SavinStarring Alan Rickman
Bryan Greenberg
Shawn Hatosy
Mary Steenburgen
Bill Pullman
with Eliza Dushku
and Danny DeVitoMusic by Paul Oakenfold
Mark AdlerCinematography Mike Ozier Editing by Randall Miller Distributed by Freestyle Releasing Release date(s) April 28, 2007 (Tribeca Film Festival)
December 5, 2008Running time 110 minutes Country United States Language English Box office $545,582 Nobel Son is a 2007 American black comedy about a dysfunctional family dealing with the kidnapping of their son for ransom following the father's winning of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The film features Alan Rickman as the prize-winning professor and Mary Steenburgen as his wife, with Bryan Greenberg as their kidnapped son.
Principal photography for Nobel Son started on October 6, 2005 in Venice Beach, California and ended on November 17, 2005. The official trailer and website were released on January 12, 2007.
Contents
Plot
Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman), a self-involved chemistry professor, learns he has been awarded the Nobel Prize. After verbally abusing his wife, son, colleagues, and nominal girlfriend, he heads off to Sweden with his wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen), to collect his award. His son, Barkley (Bryan Greenberg), misses the flight.
Barkley Michaelson has chosen to study not chemistry but anthropology, and this perceived failure triggers constant torrents of abuse from his father. His missing the flight, though, is the apparently innocent result of having been kidnapped by the deranged Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy), who claims to be Eli Michaelson's son by the wife of a former colleague. Thaddeus successfully obtains a ransom of $2 million, which he then splits with Barkley, who, it appears, has orchestrated the kidnapping to obtain money from his father.
Shortly after Barkley's release, Thaddeus rents a garage apartment from the Michaelsons and begins to charm Eli with his knowledge of chemistry. Barkley undertakes a campaign of psychological terror aimed at Thaddeus and his girlfriend, performance artist City Hall (Dushku). This ultimately results in the death of Thaddeus and commitment to a mental hospital for City.
Meanwhile, Barkley kidnaps Eli and threatens to expose the scientific fraud that lead to Eli receiving a Nobel prize that he did not deserve. Eli's long suffering wife, Sarah, demands a divorce while praising her son for his devious behavior.
In the final scenes, Sarah, Barkley, and Sarah's police detective boyfriend, Max Mariner (Pullman) are seen on a tropical beach. Mariner appears to have been in the dark through most of the movie, but has figured out towards the end that he wants to be with Sarah and can live with the theft of $2 million from her scoundrel husband. Eli is seen in his classroom unrepentantly flirting with another student. He has lost his wife, son, and the money, but it's unclear whether he still has his Nobel Prize.
Cast
- Alan Rickman as Eli Michaelson, a philandering chemistry professor who wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- Bryan Greenberg as Barkley Michaelson, the down-on-his-luck college student son of Eli Michaelson, who is kidnapped for ransom following his father's winning of the Nobel Prize.
- Shawn Hatosy as Thaddeus James, Barkley's kidnapper with a dark past.
- Mary Steenburgen as Sarah Michaelson, a forensic psychiatrist; wife of Eli and mother of Barkley.
- Bill Pullman as Max Mariner, the police detective investigating Barkley's kidnapping.
- Eliza Dushku as City Hall, a local poet/artist on whom Barkley has a crush.
- Danny DeVito as George Gastner, the Michaelsons' guest house tenant who is learning to control his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Cameos include Ted Danson and Tracey Walter as university colleagues of Eli Michaelson, and Ernie Hudson as a police detective aiding in the ransom negotiation.
Release
The film was screened from April 28 – May 2, 2007 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The entire cast attended the premiere and all of the screenings were sold-out. It received broadly negative reviews, with only a 23% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes,.[1] Manohla Dargis, writing for The New York Times described the film as "an aggressively noisy exercise in style over substance about nasty people doing nasty things to one another."[2] Roger Ebert gave it a positive review.[3] The film was also called "entertaining" by a reviewer on Ain't It Cool News.[4]
Over a year after its initial public screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, Nobel Son was picked up for distribution by Freestyle Releasing and was released in theaters on December 5, 2008. In the United Kingdom, copies of the film were given away with the Mail on Sunday on October 4, 2009.
In the United Kingdom, the scene where a character's thumb is severed was deleted, but was later edited back in and the film was given higher ratings.
References
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes page for Nobel Son
- ^ "Kidnapping, Suicide and Other Family Matters," Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, December 5, 2008
- ^ Ebert, Roger (2008-12-03). "Movie Reviews: Nobel Son". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081203/REVIEWS/812039991/1023.
- ^ Tribeca Film Fest! Eli Cross On NOBEL SON! - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news
External links
- Official website
- Nobel Son at the Internet Movie Database
- Nobel Son at Box Office Mojo
- Eliza Dushku confirms Nobel Son (wizarduniverse.com)
Films directed by Randall Miller 1990s 2000s Till Dad Do Us Part (2001) · Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005) · Nobel Son (2007) · Bottle Shock (2008)Categories:- English-language films
- 2007 films
- 2000s comedy films
- 2000s thriller films
- American black comedy films
- Crime thriller films
- Films directed by Randall Miller
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