Saturday, September 29, 2007
A+E, Movies, Reviews

‘King of California’ earns no accolades

 

“KING OF CALIFORNIA”
Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood
Directed by Mike Cahill
Rated PG-13
Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
The old-age makeup may fool you, but Michael Douglas actually filmed “King of California” in 1969, back-to-back with his first starring feature, “Hail, Hero!” Never mind that his co-star, Evan Rachel Wood, wasn’t born until 1987. If you don’t believe me, as Douglas’ character, Charlie always says, “look it up.”

It’s easier to accept “King of California” as a lost relic of the ’60s, when anyone could be Don Quixote after a tab of acid, than to believe someone would make this film today, and make it so badly.

The film focuses on Miranda (Wood), 16, who has been taking care of herself while her father Charlie (Douglas) has been in a mental institution. After two years, he’s released, perhaps prematurely. He returns to the house he refuses to sell, even though a subdivision has built up around it. Now, Miranda has to take care of both of them.

Soon, she’s spending all her time with Charlie, searching for gold that was supposedly lost in 1625 by a missionary whose diary points to a Costco store. Miranda goes undercover to work there so they can plan an excavation caper, along with Pepper (Willis Burks II), who was Charlie’s bandmate in an unsuccessful jazz band.

Perhaps Douglas thought the indie route would lead him to another Oscar, but anyone who expected anything good to come from this project was as delusional as Charlie. “King of California” proves some movies should be buried after one screening at Sundance, perhaps to be discovered by future generations and proclaimed a “lost classic.” As Miranda says, “Who doesn’t want to believe in buried treasure?” ONE AND HALF STARS—Steve Warren