“The Life of David Gale” is almost a great film. Instead, it proves to be an example of how all components must completely come together to achieve that status.
The acting is there, the production is there, the music is there and even the story idea is there. The script is where the film lacks.
David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is a Harvard-educated professor, warm, loving father and devoted death penalty abolitionist. However, he has serious problems, which are fueled by alcohol and prevent him from keeping his life together. In a strangely ironic twist of fate, the audience finds him on death row, convicted of the rape and murder of fellow protestor Constance Halloway (Laura Linney).
A reporter, Bitsy Bloom (Kate Winslet), is granted Gale’s first public interview three days before his execution. His story sweeps Bloom off her feet the first day of the interview, and she immediately takes on the challenge of proving Gale’s innocence. Here is where the light begins to shine through the holes in the writing.
At the end of the first day’s conversation, Gale looks at Bloom compassionately, saying, “I don’t have much time.” The audience never is told exactly why Gale waited until the third-to-last day of his life to talk to someone about his supposed innocence, causing the film to lose credibility.
When Bloom tries to figure out why Gale specifically picked her to do the interview, he responds nonchalantly, “Why not?” Bloom lets this go, as if she doesn’t care anymore. First-time screenwriter Charles Randolph needs to offer viewers more depth in scenes such as these.
Spacey and Winslet interact well on the screen, but the lackluster script pokes yet another hole in the film. Winslet’s performance isn’t exactly overacting; it’s just unmotivated. Viewers never get inside her head to see what is driving her to prove this man’s innocence, and therefore have a hard time agreeing to go along for the ride with her. Initially presenting her as an objective journalist who just wants to get her interview, Randolph needs to clearly express what provokes Bloom’s change of heart.
Gale’s character is written and acted well. He is a brilliant man who can’t help but keep falling to his demons — sex and alcohol. Educated deeply in Jacques Lacant’s and Socrates’ philosophies, his complex psychology leads to an ending that has been compared to “The Sixth Sense” and “The Usual Suspects,” but the weak script leaves it more comprable to the predictability of “Playing by Heart.” Spacey has chosen another role that furthers his savior complex that began with “Se7en” and was most recently reconfirmed with “K-Pax.”
The film is definitely worth a watch, even if it’s just for Spacey’s delivery of his philosophy lecture. Even in Spacey’s mediocre films, he has moments where his performance proves him one of today’s great actors.