''A Cool, Dry Place'' is a 1998 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
John N. Smith
John N. Smith Order of Canada, OC (born July 31, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.
Career
Smith graduated with a B.A. in political science from McGill University in 1964. He joined the Canadian Broadcasting ...
and written by Matthew McDuffie, based on the 1996 novel ''Dance Real Slow'' by Michael Grant Jaffe. The film stars
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for starring as a leading man in numerous comedy films during the late 1990s and 2000s. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award ...
,
Monica Potter
Monica Potter (June 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles in the films ''Con Air'' (1997), ''Patch Adams (film), Patch Adams'' (1998), and ''Along Came a Spider (film), Along Came a Spider'' (2001). She also appear ...
,
Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968) is an American actress and director. Adams starred in ''Chasing Amy'', for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and played smaller role ...
and Bobby Moat. It received a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on November 6, 1998, by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
.
Plot
Single father Russ gets woken by his five-year-old son Calvin, who is soaked after getting up to mischief in the rain early in the morning. Cleaning him up makes Russ late to the sitter's, who subsequently won't take Calvin because her daughter is ill, so he is forced to bring Calvin to work.
Russ has to balance work as a lawyer with caring for Calvin after wife and mother Kate left them two years ago. The father and son have moved to small-town
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
from
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
after Russ's corporate law firm fired him for not always being available due to his son. Although Russ is very experienced in the courtroom, as he's just passed the Kansas bar exam he's assigned the least appealing case. This smaller law firm hired him thanks to his former college roommate Bob. The client Joyce Ives had crashed into a restaurant with her husband Larry's car, for cheating on her with Carol, a waitress there. She's trying to sue the restaurant.
Calvin receives a postcard from his mom saying she misses him, often sending them although she left them 18 months ago. Grandpa sends Calvin a type of jellyfish from Florida. It is obviously dead but Calvin wants to keep it, naming it "Mom". Kate calls, wanting to talk with him, but Russ won't let her.
Russ also coaches the local high school basketball team. He benches the disrespectful Noah for his frequent absences from practice. When Russ and Calvin are in town, Noah's older sister Beth dumps a bag of dog food on Russ's windshield in retaliation. She frightens Calvin, but offers to make it up to the boy by taking him horseback riding.
Afterwards over lunch, Beth asks Russ out. As the babysitter is not available, she makes them dinner and spends the evening with them. After Calvin falls asleep, Beth and Russ are intimate and drawn into a romantic relationship. This is interrupted when Kate reappears, wanting to reassert herself in her son's life. She calls when Beth is still there the following morning while Russ is showering, so she leaves abruptly. Kate shows up minutes later and Russ is resentful and suspicious of her. She initially says she's available while he admits he's seeing someone.
Russ begins to feel torn between the two women and about what to do with Calvin. Kate's sudden appearance leads him to doubt his ability to raise his son on his own and in his own parenting skills. After a third day with her visit, she stays until late so he lets her stay the night.
A late call from the police gets Russ out to collect Noah who was in a collision and is drunk. He lets him sleep it off in the living room. Later that night, just as Russ starts to think he might reconcile with Kate, she confesses that not only has she fallen in love with someone else, but that she probably never even loved him.
In the morning Beth comes to collect Noah. When she sees Kate coming downstairs looking for Russ, she rushes out. When he follows Beth out, although he insists that things are over with Kate she says she doesn't want to get caught up in it and leaves.
While Russ is in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
interviewing for his dream job at a major law firm, he leaves Calvin with the neighbor Charlotte to stay overnight. On his return, when he goes to pick him up he discovers Kate recently has run off with Calvin to
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
.
When Russ realizes the boy is missing, he talks to Beth, who convinces him that Calvin needs him and he must try to get him back. Russ turns down the job in Dallas, and drives to Cincinnati. Kate relinquishes Calvin back to Russ after acknowledging that she can't handle it, and he and Calvin return to Kansas and Beth.
Cast
Production
Author Michael Grant Jaffe first wrote the manuscript for his novel ''Dance Real Slow'' in the early 1990s while working as a reporter at ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
''.
Before the novel was published in 1996,
Fox 2000
Fox 2000 Pictures was an American film production company within The Walt Disney Studios. It was a sister studio of the larger film studios 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, specializing in producing independent films in mid-range re ...
secured the movie rights for six figures.
Matthew McDuffie then adapted the book into a screenplay. The film became titled ''A Cool, Dry Place'', which was Jaffe's original title for his book.
Chris O'Donnell
Christopher Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. After modeling and acting in numerous commercials as a teenager, he made his film debut in the comedy-drama film ''Men Don't Leave'' (1990). Following supporting roles in ...
was initially attached in the lead role, but the actor's wedding conflicted with the filming schedule and he was also thought of as too young by some producers.
The film was shot in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, with locations including
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and the town of
Lindsay (now part of the city of
Kawartha Lakes
Kawartha Lakes (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 79,247) is a List of municipalities in Ontario , single-tier municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Though structured as a single-tier municipality, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typica ...
).
Reception
In a review for ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Lael Loewenstein wrote, "Vaughn does what he can with the part, but his unimpassioned demeanor obscures the vulnerability that would have made Russ a more empathetic character. One craves the tenderness of Tom Hanks' widower dad in ''
Sleepless in Seattle
''Sleepless in Seattle'' is a 1993 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who becomes enamored ...
'' or the sentimental journey of Dustin Hoffman's divorced father in ''
Kramer vs. Kramer
''Kramer vs. Kramer'' is a 1979 American legal drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on Avery Corman's 1977 novel. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry and Jane Alexander. It tells the story of a couple ...
'', but Vaughn's Russ doesn't feel as lived-in as those memorable performances."
Other criticisms were of the script's melodramatic aspects and that the characters were underwritten.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cool Dry Place, A
1998 films
1998 drama films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
20th Century Fox films
American drama films
English-language drama films
Films about father–son relationships
Films about lawyers
Films about single parent families
Films based on American novels
Films directed by John N. Smith
Films set in Cincinnati
Films set in Dallas
Films set in Kansas
Films shot in Toronto