With the G-rated comedy Shorts, James Spader has yet another
role that he can finally show to his mother. With deadpan wickedness,
he commits himself to his role as the shifty chief of the Black Box
Company, an electronics manufacturer that produces something that looks
like a cross between a Blackberry and a Rubik’s Cube. Director Robert
Rodriguez works with a kinetic verve in bunch of scrambled
shorts—hence the title—about the same thing: a rock that grants
wishes. The movie is for the kids, and Rodriguez has to be admired for
trusting them to figure out a non-linear story, James Spader and
pointed commentary on how communication technology distances us further
from the people we are in touch with.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2009.