BASED ON THE NOVEL by crime writer Charles Willeford, The Woman Chaser follows womanizer and master salesman Richard Hudson (Patrick Warburton) as he snakes his way into buying a used-car lot, then siphons off its profits while making his underpaid staff don Santa outfits in the August heat of LA. From there, Richard becomes disillusioned with easy money and sets his sights on “creating” something—as in art. As in a movie. Leaving his tail-finned cars behind, he persuades his stepdad, a timid former Hollywood producer, to go in on a small-budget indie film he’s written and wants to direct. But first they have to meet The Man, a big shot studio exec.
THE WOMAN CHASER
directed by Robinson Devor
starring Patrick Warburton
runs August 11-17 at Varsity
A bit like The Player meets Bowfinger (i.e., movies about moviemaking), Chaser filters that very ’90s theme through an homage to noir classics and streamlined, ’60s Los Angeles. Shot in black-and-white, this dark comedy looks great and fairly brims over with selfconscious camera angles, shadows, and backdrops. The kitsch practically screams from each frame.
Best known as Elaine’s big, sarcastic lunk of a boyfriend Puddy during Seinfeld‘s last three seasons, Warburton could be this generation’s answer to Perry Mason. With a perfected deadpan style and smooth features (not to mention his huge noggin), he unflappably breezes through scenes with suits that hang well, women—old, young, blood relatives, it hardly seems to matter—who bat their eyelashes at him, and a slew of disgruntled employees. Though Richard’s not much more than a stereotypical, amoral hustler, Warburton is clearly having a ball. He seizes each moment and plays it to its hilt—whether he’s chasing his movie’s actors through orange groves, seducing religious spinsters, or dancing with his nymphomaniac mother (the film’s proudest comedic moment). The plot unfolds like the giant clich頴hat you immediately associate with a “Hollywood” story, but Warburton’s callous sleazeball of a Tinseltown wanna-be makes its familiarity thoroughly enjoyable.
