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'Fast Food': Not Filling

By Curt Fields
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 6, 2001
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Robert Modica and Louise Lasser negotiate their relationship in "Fast Food Fast Women."
(Lot 47 Films)
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This little film, written and directed by Amos Kollek, tries hard to be charming but succeeds only occasionally. It tells two roughly parallel relationship stories. Front and center are winsome diner waitress Bella (Anna Thomson) and slow-to-mature Bruno (Jamie Harris). They meet on a blind date and begin a cautious courtship one complicated by Bella's early untruthful declaration that she "hates kids," unaware that Bruno recently had two one his, one not dumped in his lap by his ex-wife. She makes this statement because one of her friends said that to do otherwise would scare Bruno off.
The secondary relationship is between the aging Paul (Robert Modica) and Emily (Louise Lasser). They too are working their way slowly toward a relationship. The pace starts out jumpier than MTV's "Undressed," with a series of vignettes that introduces the assorted characters, but gradually relaxes as their stories become intertwined. But like the relationships it's portraying, the film is littered with missteps. Kollek's female characters clearly spring from a male psyche the supporting cast includes an apparent exhibitionist, a stuttering hooker and a peep-show worker studying Jung. Plus, if sixty-somethings are having as much sex with thirty-somethings as they do here, then Kollek truly believes they're golden years indeed. Modica and Lasser handle their roles with aplomb, and both Thomson and Harris have an unforced charm. But, despite the occasional chuckle, you're likely to find yourself wishing they had something more to work with.
"Fast Food Fast Women" (R, 96 minutes) Contains brief nudity, occasional profanity and sexual situations. Visions Cinema/Bistro/Lounge.
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