Bob Crane had it all: a wife, three kids and the lead role on Hogan's Heroes, a popular 1960s TV show. Then he met John Carpenter, an audio/ video equipment salesman with a voracious appetite for women. Something within Crane snapped, and Auto Focus tells the story of his disastrous lifestyle and resulting murder. This film never truly comes into focus, however, and the result is a disappointingly mediocre piece of shallow storytelling.
Tragically, Auto Focus's problems have nothing to do with its script, director or actors. The film seemingly holds the equation for success: Greg Kinnear (Crane) and Willem Dafoe (Carpenter) are both formidable talents, and director Paul Schrader wrote the screenplays for such classics as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and directed American Gigolo and Affliction.
Even with this team, Auto Focus still suffers from a disease I like to call "Hollywooditis." The topic of Crane's and Carpenter's self-destructive sex addiction should be no light matter, yet Auto Focus seems content to treat the issue with minimal severity and a fear of delving too deeply into the human psyche. This is a film on the verge of being great, but every time you think it's going to get serious, the scene awkwardly shifts and tension is avoided.
Crane and Carpenter's troubled friendship could have been a deeply interesting on-screen relationship, but the drama is repeatedly held back. As a result, the unfortunate developments in Crane's life merely appear on the screen, and Auto Focus is a decidedly painless, yet wholly dissatisfying experience.
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