Mommy Brain

(Nobel Son was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

Receiving critical acclaim during the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, Nobel Son follows Barkley Michaelson, a 20 something-year-old in a life rut struggling to finish his Ph.D thesis. Always cast in the shadow of his highly accomplished father Eli Michaelson, the estranged relationship between father and son is complicated further when Barkley is kidnapped on the eve of Eli winning a Nobel Prize in chemistry for a ransom of $2,000,000 (the amount won as a recipient of the prize). When his father refuses to pay, it starts a game of intrigue and deception.

“An outrageously entertaining ride” (Hollywood.com), Nobel Son features a stellar ensemble cast and crew directed by Randall Miller (Bottle Shock), including Golden Globe® winner Alan Rickman (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Bryan Greenberg (Bride Wars), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse), Shawn Hatosy (Southland), Oscar®-winner Mary Steenburgen (Four Christmases), Bill Pullman, Ted Danson and Danny Devito.

Although Nobel Son was billed as a thriller, it should have been classed as a black comedy. Alan Rickman and Mary Steenburgen make up the perfect dysfunctional married couple. Their son Barkley, played by Bryan Greenberg, who I loved in October Road, has been affected by his father’s narcissistic, anti-social bent, and is pouring all of his energy into his master’s thesis on cannibalism.

When Barkley is kidnapped after his father wins the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Professor Michaelson refuses to believe his son is really in trouble, let alone pay the ransom. This sets in motion a sequence of events that get more darkly comic as they go along. To be honest, I’m not really sure what I thought of this movie. It was okay, but not the kind of movie I would usually watch. The previews made it look very different than what it actually was, and the language and some gruesome images definitely earned it its “R” rating.

Nobel Son is available now on DVD. The DVD special features include cast and crew commentary, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending.