Insignificance Reviews

Director Nicolas Roeg continues along the path of self-indulgent meaninglessness that he paved in EUREKA, again filling the screen with lush images that stimulate the eye, but failing to pair them with substance. He instead hammers his audience with the most obvious of symbolism. The story takes place in New York in 1954, almost entirely in a hotel room occupied by professor Michael Emil, who bears a strong resemblance to Albert Einstein. Late one night he receives a visit from actress Theresa Russell, a Marilyn Monroe-styled blonde. The famous pair begin talking through the night, first discussing the limits of their fame and then going on to demonstrate the Theory of Relativity. The following morning two other visitors arrive--a Joseph McCarthy-type senator, Tony Curtis, and a star baseball player, Gary Busey, who is involved in a destructive relationship with Russell. The hotel room, with its four occupants, turns into a microcosm of the world. INSIGNIFICANCE never ignites any real interest in the characters or their dilemmas. The result, rather than being an eye-opening parable, is a boring, well-mannered, excess of pretension.