Although many people do not like it at all---I love John Waters's Cecil B Demented. The main reason behind my love for it is the excellent work of Stephen Dorff in the film. However, that was the last time I could ever say I saw Dorff give a decent performance. When you have films such as Feardotcom, Deuces Wild, Shadowboxer, Alone In The Dark, Immortals, Cold Creek Manor and the infamously ghastly Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star on your resume...you're not exactly batting a thousand and neither is your agent. In fact---my least favorite Dorff performance and film was Somewhere...a film that somehow won people over despite the fact that it was literally just Dorff looking and acting depressed for two hours. Now comes Zaytoun....a film that features Dorff in an incredibly miscast role as Israeli fighter pilot Yoni.
The film follows Yoni as he unrealistically befriends a Palestinian boy named Fahed (Abdallah El Akal.) It is at this point that the audience is injected with the most awkward mix of road trip comedy and depressing war film one could imagine. The conflicting tones of the film make it too lightweight to grip the audience and too depressing to entertain the audience. What the audience is left with is just an unnecessarily long and drawn out relationship that features no chemistry whatsoever.
Dorff is, as previously mentioned, completely miscast here. His performance is so simultaneously lackluster and over the top---I was surprised when Nicolas Cage didn't show up as Ghost Rider. Akal is alright here considering it's his first starring role (he certainly outshines Dorff) but he's not exactly going to be getting calls anytime in the immediate future for another performance. What he plays here is a prop that the film revolves around. Although Akal admittedly tries his best...Fahed is such a cliche, unrealistic character that it's hard to buy anything that's coming out of his mouth.
There are admittedly a few good parts about Zaytoun. It creates a nice looking atmosphere and has one or two compellingly shot war scenes. However, the film is too awkward and too jarring to be considered anything other than a failure. I'm tempted to say watch it on cable when it comes on Encore! or Starz but that would just be unfairly taking two long hours of your life away.
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is Not Rated)
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