Director: Jimmy Warden
Writer: Jimmy Warden
Stars: Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson, Eric Dane
Synopsis: A bodyguard protects a pop superstar and her athlete boyfriend from a determined stalker in 1990s Los Angeles.
On paper, a dark comedy centered around an obsessive fan wanting to marry a massively-famous pop star piques the interest. Assembling a cast of Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson, Jimmie Fails, Alba Baptista, and Eric Dane is certainly a step in the right direction. Unfortunately with Borderline, writer/director Jimmy Warden is completely incapable of pulling any of it off.
Nicholson stars as Paul Duerson, an obsessive fan of pop star and actress Sofia Minor (Weaving). Believing he is in a relationship with Sofia, Paul confronts her longtime bodyguard, Bell (Dane), where he ends up stabbing Bell and enters Sofia’s empty house. Six months later, Paul is in prison, and Bell is back on the job. Sofia is now dating basketball player DeVante Rhodes (Fails). The news reports that Paul has escaped from prison.
Helped by his prison accomplice, Penny (Baptista) and his friend, J.J (Patrick Cox), Paul schemes to complete his proposal to Sofia and have his dream wedding. The group kidnap Bell and his daughter, and head to Sofia’s to bring together his plan. The addition of DeVante and Paul’s increasing psychosis complicates matters even further.
Structurally, the film does nothing more than spin its wheels. The qualities of Paul’s disturbance and obsession waver from scene-to-scene without any explanation. His friends go along with his insanity for no apparent reason. His obsession with Sofia has no foundation. I understand not holding an audience’s hand, but having them wander aimlessly in the dark isn’t any better. Scenes happen, they finish, sometimes they have unnecessary flashbacks, sometimes they just stall for time. There is no reasoning for one thing to be happening right after the previous scene’s insanity.
This is certainly a film aiming for dark humor, but the tonal balance is completely misguided. It reminded me of Life Is Beautiful‘s completely misplaced sincerity and humor in a place where humor does not need to exist. Similarly, Borderline will accompany a brutal murder (played for laughs) into a scene with Paul and Sofia where one is obviously disturbed and the other is petrified. This is played for laughs and slapstick instead of the horror film it is. There is a balance to be found in these films, but not one this script or this filmmaker has any semblance of ability to craft. It’s hard to take a film seriously when a Baptista/Weaving duet of “It’s All Coming Back to Me,” falls completely flat and comes out of absolutely nowhere, only to end with a terrible fight sequence.
It’s damned-near impossible to not picture his father when discussing Nicholson, but it doesn’t mean it’s a positive. His characterization is (no pun intended) unstable. He is mostly jovial and pleasant, until the exact moment he isn’t. His fluctuation has no rhyme or reason, nor is there any particular reasoning behind anyone following him. Nicholson mostly channels the crazy-eyed energy of his father without giving any humanity or humor behind it. He isn’t doing anything the film isn’t asking of him, but it can’t transcend the material.
Weaving, frankly, isn’t around very much and has nothing to do when she is around. Sofia has no characterization outside of being famous, and is barely cared about by anyone other than Paul. She barely emotes outside a few small scenes. Dane has much more of a character arc, but he is written too thinly for any of that to resonate. Fails acts like he came from another movie, consistently confused by what is transpiring around him. Baptista might be the only one on the film’s intended wavelength, but is going far too broad for the rest of the film to match her energy.
Dark comedies about serious subjects are always a tough sell, and Borderline does a poor job of attempting to sell any aspect of this narrative. Despite having a group of gifted actors, they are consistently failed by the filmmaking ideals.
