Les Franken (Michael Rapaport) is a parking enforcement officer (aka “meter maid”) who longs for something more exciting in his life. He is so painfully lonely that he feels like something is eating his soul a little bit everyday. In voiceover narration, Les tells us that he’s not really depressed, but he feels like he’s losing something in his life. So, he signs up for a drug study and is asked to take Specioprin Hydrochloride (trade name Special), an antidepressant which, he’s told, will help him feel “different.” When he returns home from a day’s work, he finds himself levitating over his couch. It seems that the drug hasn’t simply made him feel better, it’s given him superpowers. Or has it?
That’s as detailed a description of the plot that I want to divulge about a little gem of a movie called Special. I’d never heard of it before I found it on Netflix. I knew nothing about it except for a rough approximation of what I’ve written so far. I don’t want to ruin the experience for you, so I’ll just say to get the most out of this movie, stop reading and go rent it now.
You’re still here? OK, let me go into a little more detail but I still won’t give away too much.
The script, by Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore, who also direct, does a fantastic job manipulating the viewer’s perceptions and, thanks to a fantastic performance by Rapaport, one’s never too sure what’s going to happen next. Is Les really a superhero or is he just hallucinating? Thanks to an ambient music score by Manish Raval and Tom Wolfe and quite a few shots of Los Angeles looking empty and barren, Special takes on a melancholy feel that helps underscore the loneliness in Les’ life. It’s hard not to feel sorry for this guy and I found myself hoping that he wasn’t simply losing his mind.
While it will disappoint those looking for something to feed their CGI-infused action addiction until Iron Man 2 is released, for those of us who sometimes like a little intelligence in our fantasy, Special is definitely worth viewing.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Buy on Amazon!
