Roger Swanson (Campbell Scott) is the kind of good-looking, arrogantly misogynistic snake who populates trendy urban drinking establishments. Dressed to the nines in designer suits that match his perfectly coiffed locks, Roger is a lothario with absolutely nowhere to go but the bars, where eager young ladies looking for a night of fun are seemingly helpless in the face of his smug magnetism. He talks and talks and talks, spouting one absurdly offensive opinion after another (several generations in the future, men will be completely phased out of the act of sex), as willing to insult his companions as charm them into spending the night with him. And yet when Roger–who is already knee deep in a crumbling relationship with his boss, Joyce (Isabella Rossellini)–finds himself unexpectedly babysitting his teenage nephew Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), some of his carefully manicured luster begins to chip away.

Writer/director Dylan Kidd’s sleekly acidic maiden voyage follows this unlikely pair around the city as they search for that most precious and desirable commodity: sex. Nick is a virgin, and Roger is determined to help his nephew find a woman that will willingly welcome him into the world of sexual adulthood. What follows is, in one respect, a rather standard-issue coming-of-age story about a young kid learning some rather harsh truths about love in the real world. Primarily what’s appealing about Roger Dodger though is its scathing portrait of the amoral, haughtily erudite thirty-something vultures that Roger so ably typifies. Aided by a stunningly charismatic and multi-layered performance by Scott, Kidd pulls off an intriguing trick, turning his story into a stunning example of reverse beer goggles: the more time we spend with Roger, the less attractive he becomes.

If only Kidd’s directorial acumen was a worthy match for his writing. The film’s cinematography strives to create an atmosphere of seductive, inky plushness, but too often devolves into indiscernible murkiness. It’s one thing to shoot without much bright light; it’s another thing entirely to have the action disappear into absolute darkness. The film’s visual approach especially dampens the power of the third act, when a climactic sequence of events effectively gets lost in the shadows.

However, despite its photographic shortcomings, there is no denying that the blisteringly funny Roger Dodger is one of the year’s most promising debuts.

nicholas schager

yes, it's true:

Roger Dodger lead actor, Campbell Scott (Big Night, The Spanish Prisoner) is late actor George C. Scott’s son. His mother is Colleen Dewhurst.