[6]

James Woods stars as the museum director taken to court when photographs from Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1990 exhibit were accused of being obscene in Cincinnati, Ohio. Diana Scarwid and Craig T. Nelson also star in this made-for-cable movie that incorporates Mapplethrope’s photos and interviews with political pundits and people who knew and worked with Mapplethorpe. I enjoyed the artist’s photos and the documentary interview bits, which featured Barney Frank, William F. Buckley, Susan Sarandon, Fran Leibowitz and others. The main narrative featuring Woods’ performance and the courtroom trial was less engaging. I don’t know how true-to-fact this screenplay is, but Woods’ character never seems all that passionate about the exhibit or defending it in a court of law. Also, we’ve seen this kind of courtroom story a lot of times now. The dude is taken to court, his family begins to suffer, the wife becomes a selfish harpy, the dude thinks about giving in, and just when things are darkest, they win the trial. A straight documentary might have been more fresh. Or more about Mapplethorpe himself. Or maybe just a more empathetic leading actor.