Herb Gardner's plays hold a special place in my heart. The first monologue I memorized for acting class was from "A Thousand Clowns." I did a miserable job and I only realized how wretched I was when I saw its film adaptation.

Another Gardner play has now made it to the screen, one that holds a place in the hearts of many people and many critics. "I'm Not Rappaport" won the 1986 Tony Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Play and the John Gassner Playwriting Award. Gardner wrote the screenplay, directed the film and got Ossie Davis to reprise his Broadway performance as Midge. So this film, I'M NOT RAPPAPORT, has the strength of being the most authentic adaptation imaginable. Unfortunately, that's one of its greatest weaknesses.

The story follows the peregrinations of Nat, played by Walter Matthau and his reluctant buddy Midge (played by Ossie Davis). Actually, we never learn Nat's name until near the very end of the movie; Nat keeps his identity hidden in a three ring circus of lies. He argues that since he was one person for the last 50 years, he's going to be 50 people for the last five. Those 50 include an undercover agent, an attorney, a consumer protection watchdog, even a mob boss. Midge shares a bench with Nat in New York's Central Park. He can't stand being taken in by Nat's tall tales, but he can't stop himself from listening either. Both men are in their 80s, trying with all their might to keep a place in the world -- Midge by clinging to his job as a building super; Nat by tilting at the windmills of injustice with a Marxist lance.

Walter Matthau and Ossie Davis are perfect in their roles and they are perfectly paired. Matthau was so convincing that I was actually duped by some of Nat's lies. His timing and delivery lifted the laughter from me as a thief lifts the wallet from an open handbag. Davis operates mainly as Matthau's straight man, but he's funny, too. Both are moving in their pride, their dignity, their frailty. You worry for them; you hope they have the strength to win the battles they face; you pray to have that much spunk when you reach that age.

The performances would be nothing without a good script and Herb Gardner definitely wrote some fine roles and great dialogue. And it really tackles issues of aging and identity better than, say GRUMPIER OLD MEN. I can see why the play was such a hit. But it seemed like Gardner couldn't bear to cut very much when making his adaptation. I'M NOT RAPPAPORT ends up with a run time of about 2 1/4 hours. I didn't mind that the movie, like the old men it depicts, takes its time getting places. I just found myself expecting it to be over about twenty minutes before it did.

I'm a purist when it comes to art forms. I believe when you use a form, you should exploit the unique qualities of that form. Therefore, photography should not be like painting and film should *definitely* not be like theater. Herb Gardner's background is in the theater and he directed I'M NOT RAPPAPORT like a play. I can't put my finger on exactly what makes this so. The small number of characters and locations contributes. But it's also the way of setting scenes and decorating sets; of conveying meaning through words and images. There's a degree of intensity and a level of literariness that indicates without a doubt that this movie was originally a play. And my feeling is, if you don't go beyond placing your scenes on locations instead of sets, your movie is lacking. You may have a good adaptation -- which I'M NOT RAPPAPORT certainly is -- but you don't have a great movie.

The script has been updated since 1986. Nat's socialist convictions are often parried with the example of the Soviet disintegration. Yet I'M NOT RAPPAPORT still has an 1980s feel to it. Jogging yuppies are vilified; humanist, pro-labor values are lionized. I'm not saying this is wrong, but the treatment seems a little quaint after the recession and rampant downsizing of the early 90s.

I hate to end on such a down note, because I *did* enjoy I'M NOT RAPPAPORT. It's charming, it's funny, the performances are sharp and the issues deep. But it's a play. You get play length and play direction. If you want to see a good play, then go to your movie theater and see I'M NOT RAPPAPORT.

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