Talented Cast Can’t Put the Spark in ‘Bartleby’

Jonathan Parker’s “Bartleby” is an ambitious attempt to update the 1853 Herman Melville novella “Bartleby the Scrivener.” It’s not a bad idea, and it has the right cast and the right look. But, sad to say, it lacks the pace and energy to make it come alive and therefore remains more of a literary conceit than a movie.

David Paymer, who also narrates, plays the Boss, heading up a public records firm that has just landed the contract to maintain the records of a small city. Glenne Headly’s Vivian, a seductress who speaks with great precision in a breathy, Marilyn Monroe manner, manages the office, whose staff also includes Joe Piscopo’s ladykiller Rocky and Maury Chaykin’s klutzy Ernie. With the new city contract, the workload becomes sufficiently heavy to require additional help. Enter Crispin Glover’s Bartleby, a strange, reticent, formally dressed young man who accepts a clerk’s job and swiftly proves his worth in his zealous approach to filing.

The Boss is therefore understandably taken aback whenever Bartleby is asked to perform any other kind of task in an office suffused with dull routine and replies with a polite but firm “I would prefer not to” without further explanation. The Boss tries to order Bartleby around but to no avail. Essentially a kindly man, he decides to cut Bartleby some slack, but the situation only worsens.

What Parker means to make of the Boss’ predicament is a portrait of a decent but complacent man whose life is jolted out of its comfortable, orderly existence by his concern for his obstinate employee. Always an actor with plenty of resources to draw upon, Paymer is in danger of being undone by his steadfast kindliness. The sharp-featured, angular Glover is a master at expressing disconcerting weirdness in an amusing manner. Headly is deliciously insinuating. In addition to the ever-reliable Chaykin and Piscopo, there are sharp portrayals from Seymour Cassel, Carrie Snodgress and Dick Martin.

Despite the best efforts of this distinctive cast and others involved with this off-beat production, filmed in San Rafael, this “Bartleby” remains stubbornly lifeless.

MPAA-rated: PG-13, for some sexual content. Times guidelines. Suitable for older children.

‘Bartleby’

David Paymer...The Boss/Narrator

Crispin Clover...Bartleby

Glenne Headly...Vivian

Maury Chaykin...Ernie

Joe Piscopo...Rocky

An Outrider Pictures and Parker Film Co. presentation. Director Jonathan Parker. Writers-producers Parker and Catherine di Napoli; based on the Herman Melville novella “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Executive producer Parker. Cinematographer Wah Ho Chan. Editor Rick LeCompte. Costumes Morganne Newson. Art director Deborah Stairs Parker. Running time: I hour, 23 minutes.

Exclusively at the Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379; the Long Beach Marketplace 6, 6601 Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, (562) 865-8989; and the University 6, Campus Drive opposite UCI, Irvine, (949) 854-8811.