Movies Not To Be Missed: Roger Dodger

Jesse Eisenberg recently wowed audiences in London with The Spoils, a play he wrote and starred in. The actor, author and playwright is probably best known for his role as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network but it was in Roger Dodger in 2002 that he made his film debut in a troubling but ultimately rewarding comedy-drama.

Roger Dodger is the debut feature of writer-director Dylan Kidd and it concerns Roger Swanson (played by Campbell Scott), an advertising executive who has had better nights. The film opens with Roger being dumped by his girlfriend, a fact further complicated by the fact that she also happens to be his boss.

Enter Roger’s nephew, Nick (Eisenberg). Although Roger and Nick’s mother are no longer on speaking terms, the 16-year-old is in desperate need of guidance when it comes to the opposite sex. What follows is the antithesis of a film like Wedding Crashers as we witness the slow motion car crash of a night on the town in the company of a boy who doesn’t know any better and a man who really should.

It is little surprise that the picture struggled at the box office. Roger is an unappealing protagonist; the master is letting the student in on the secrets that have left him lonely, bitter and unpleasant. Eisenberg, still a teenager at the time of filming, is typically excellent and conveys the perfect blend of wide-eyed innocence and teenage bravado. His Nick has clearly been brought up to respect his elders and it is a maxim he will live by despite all the evidence suggesting it might not be the wisest mantra where Roger is concerned.

The film is pitched somewhere between Neil Strauss and Neil LaBute. Indeed, the former’s The Game came out just a few years after Roger Dodger and yet “negging” (undermining a woman's self-esteem by paying her a backhanded compliment as a seduction technique) is unquestionably a part of Roger’s arsenal. Like LaBute’s In the Company of Men, this is clearly about male insecurity and the misogyny displayed by the titular character might be enjoyed by his nephew but the average audience member will condemn rather than condone such behaviour.

Kidd’s career has somewhat stalled since his debut and that’s a pity. He writes witty, concise dialogue with echoes of David Mamet. Scott’s Roger is a movie monster but he feels like one we’ve all encountered at some point or other. It is Eisenberg’s Nick who is the real hero here, though, so long as he works out that age does not necessarily bring wisdom.