‘At Middleton’ Never Reaches Its Star Power Potential

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Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Since the world has been clamoring for a film about high school seniors touring a liberal arts college, “At Middleton” fills the bill, and throws in a symbolic midlife liaison between characters portrayed by Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga, tripping across their own “life campus.”

The set-up of the story is better than the result of that set up. Garcia plays against his hunky type as a repressed physician who is desperate to have his son go to Middleton College. Farmiga’s character is more flaky, the motivator to get herself and the good doctor off the beaten path. When they get together, they change each other in odd ways, that doesn’t allow for a natural relationship to develop. It’s as if writer/director Adam Rodgers walked around the college, and made up stuff for his characters to do based on how the campus is laid out, and filmed it. There is high concept in the result, and low truth.

Garcia is George, a stuffy physician who is taking his son Conrad (Spencer Lofranco) to a tour at Middleton College. In the group is Edith (Farmiga) and her daughter Audrey (Taissa Farmiga). Audrey is at Middleton to study literature with Dr. Emerson (Tom Skerrit). The tour group gets off track, and Edith convinces George to do their own excursion through campus.

George (Andy Garcia) and Edith (Vera Farmiga) Meet in ‘At Middleton’
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Films

The couple steals some bikes, climb the bell tower (George is afraid of heights) and drops in on an acting class. As the afternoon wears on, George is loosening up, and Edith is confronting some truths about her marriage. While the day culminates for them with some pot smoking and fountain-splashing, Conrad is learning a little wisdom from Boneyard Sims (Peter Riegert), the campus disk jockey. It’s a big day on campus.

The premise is sound – two disparate souls meeting at a crossroads in both their lives. Garcia tries hard to establish a tweedy stuffed shirt, but both characters have a hard time staying consistent with their “transitions,” which start to blow with the wind of the screenplay as their day together progresses. Farmiga, an incredible actress, handles the inconsistency better than Garcia, but both have to suffer through a smoking pot session, which plays like a parody of people getting high.

The campus, which becomes a playground, also feels a bit claustrophobic, because the characters are stuck there. There needed to be a little space between the adult characters, their familiarity was too quick and convenient. The kids don’t fare any better. When Audrey confronts her hero professor – having read his logic book at 13 years old, naturally – nothing really happens. And Conrad’s encounter with a DJ named Boneyard was a straight ripoff from “American Graffiti,” and Peter Riegert is no Wolfman Jack.

The acting class sequence, which is painfully too long, is a perfect example of leading the characters astray. Establishing George as a stuffed shirt doesn’t exactly give him credibility when asked by an acting teacher – ignoring her regular tuition paying students – to improvise a relationship sketch. Suddenly George and Edith are Andy and Vera, playing Saturday-Night-at-Second-City in a tacked-on, show-offish and awkward scene.

George Guides his son Conrad (Spencer LoFranco) in ‘At Middleton’
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Films

Garcia and Farmiga are not entirely without charm. If the screenplay would have let them develop the initial interpretation of their personas, the antics may have been more bittersweet. Farmiga has a charming presence – complete with an infectious laugh – and there were inklings of a screwball “Bringing Up Baby” vibe to the George and Edith story. It’s unfortunate they were inconsistent and ultimately ended up heroes. This campus could have used a little more darkness.

There is one redeeming factor to the pot smoking scene. Farmiga literally lets her hair down, and starts to do a twirl dance, wearing an appropriate expression and pleasant blouse. Squint a bit and she would have been right at home as a Grateful “Dead Head.” Middleton College must be in one of those “legal” states.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com