The Crane Scrutiny

It was nothing less than a stroke of genius to cast Greg Kinnear as "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's biopic "Auto Focus". Like Jim Carrey in the Andy Kaufman non-exposé "Man on the Moon", Mr. Kinnear disappears into the role of the smirking, smarmy Crane. This is in no small part due to the fact that Mr. Kinnear has been perfecting smirking smarm for years. As Crane, Mr. Kinnear easily fills the role of a self-proclaimed "likable guy". As the film follows Crane's slow descent into the world of swinging sex and pornography, aided by video-phile John Carpenter (Willem DaFoe), you can't help but watch and empathize with Mr. Kinnear's Crane as he struggles to juggle his career and his controversial but "harmless" hobby.

The acting throughout the film is uniformly solid. Rita Wilson and Maria Bello shine as Crane's two wives and Kurt Fuller does about the best Werner Klemperer you'll ever see. It is Crane's relationship with the ever-swinging Carpenter that really drives the film and Mr. Dafoe, still channeling a little too much Norman Osborn from "Spider-man", only slightly overplays the disintegration of their friendship. But this is Mr. Kinnear's film from start to finish and he is perfect. His choices are strong and spot-on and he is completely convincing as he subtly grows in years and maturity over the course of the film.

When I first saw Angelo Badalamenti's name as the composer for the film's score, I found it odd to see the David Lynch mainstay as part of a film so rooted in reality. I quickly lost any doubts as Mr. Badalamenti and Mr. Schrader thoroughly created the environment of the 1960s. But later in the film as Crane descends deeper into depression, self-loathing and the 70s, I found Mr. Badalamenti's trademark ethereal sound distracting. The fine acting work by Mr. Kinnear et al, in combination with Mr. Schrader's documentary-style handheld camera, would have been enough without having the atmosphere imposed by the music.

The script, by first-timer Michael Gerbosi, from the book "The Murder of Bob Crane" by Robert Graysmith, is logical and even-handed throughout. Mr. Schrader is so keen on understanding Crane that he occasionally sacrifices the film's pacing, but the film's themes of temptation, taboo, and sexual addiction are handled more deftly than in any film in recent memory. Mr. Schrader's camera never judges. Here, like in his script for "Raging Bull", Mr. Schrader pulls no punches. "Auto Focus" is a knockout.