'Angels' dies for its sins

REVIEW
	City of Angels At Ann Arbor 1&2 and Showcase

On a weekend when Good Friday, Easter and Passover all occur, people are wise to ponder their existences, reaffirm their beliefs and question their own mortality - fulfilling themselves through spirituality.

But one would be wise to choose crucifixion and pass over "City of Angels," the sorriest excuse for Hollywood spirituality since the debut of "Touched by an Angel," only with more references to Dennis Franz's rear end.

"City of Angels," based on Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire" and directed by "Casper" auteur Brad Silberling, would probably be more entertaining if it were all about Franz' butt, at least it would be an examination of something American audiences have never seen on a big screen.

But "Angels" is something we've seen. In fact, it's every romance we've ever seen that asks the question, "What would you give up for love?"

Deep, spiritual seraph Seth (Nicolas Cage) is an angel. Unseen by humans, he takes the souls of the dying or dead "home." But it turns out that he'd give up eternity for one sniff of Dr. Maggie Rice's (Meg Ryan) hair, the taste of a pear and a chance to go bodysurfing. Audiences will give up what feels like an eternity to watch this deep, spiritual drivel, from which one may need a sniff of ammonia to wake up.

The sleepy film masquerades as a touching, subtle discussion of death and the possible life thereafter, but generally amounts to a whole lot of staring set to some dreamy music - Seth stares at a bathing Maggie longingly, with a sexy Paula Cole song

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Nicolas Cage likes pears and Meg Ryan in "City of Angels."

playing in the background; Maggie stares at her angel as he sleeps, some sweeping music from composer Gabriel Yared caressing the scene; Seth stares some more as he invisibly lulls Maggie to sleep to the tune of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel."

A few of these nearly wordless music video scenes actually work. They succeed in conveying, through the meaningful glances that comprise the lead performances and sun-drenched Los Angeles vistas, the film's message about the impermanence of life and love. And the audience is able, if only for a moment, to forget the detriment of the film's treacly dialogue telling us to stop our hectic urban lives for a moment - again, just to smell Meg Ryan's darn cute hair, savor the taste of pear and go naked bodysurfing with Dennis Franz.

Two of those three peculiar interests could get Seth arrested in the real world, but if we can suspend our disbelief at these absurd happenings, as the film begs us to do, we see that they are all Seth wants in both this world and the next.

As the heavenly stalker follows his true love and her tick-infested dog Earl around L.A., trying to transcend immortality with the help of hedonistic fallen angel Nathan Messinger (Franz) and pointless angelic sidekick Cassiel (Andre Braugher), we are expected to swoon at the boundary-breaking bond developing between Seth and Maggie.

Since the film offers little in the way of character development or a reason for Maggie and Seth's bond, other than the fact that it's something they "feel," the real bond that develops is between the visual marvels that are Franz's butt and Braugher's incredibly white teeth and the awestruck viewer. Both command the screen when shown and blind the audience with their sheer whiteness, but, sadly, do nothing to make the film any better.

By the time the film shamefully uses death as a plot device, there is no fathomable way that "City of Angels" could be any more that the unwatchable piece of fluff it is, eternally filled with trite dialogue, slick cinematography, soulful staring that barely passes as acting and a heavenful of unexplained phenomena.

Angels live in libraries? Lonely surgeons will fall in love with a strange man who wears the same clothes every day, stares at them and then buys them produce? Ticks can be removed from animal fur through the application of olive oil? The list of unanswered questions goes on and on.

At least "City of Angels" doesn't attempt to answer the question of the existence of a higher power. It just takes for granted the fact that heaven and angels and single surgeons that look like Meg Ryan are alive and well and living in Los Angeles and revels in its world of sun, beauty, love and death, oblivious to the fact that no one in the audience cares.

On this Easter weekend, Christians all over the world are remembering their belief that Jesus died on the cross for everyone's sins. From now on, let all the audiences of the world remember that "City of Angels" died from its own.

04-14-98