Of Unknown Origin

A behind-the-curtain peek: I approach movie scores like I approach tipping. I start off at the top and bring the score down based on things that happen. It's why I'm more likely to point out and spend more time on criticisms than extolling a movie's virtues, even when I give them positive scores, because I'm calling out those things that hinder the movie from achieving greater heights. I say all this as preamble to explain that, contrary to my normal review style, this will be a rather complimentary review for this score. Of Unknown Origin concerns Bert (played by Peter Weller). His family goes on vacation, and while he's home alone, he finds he has a rat. He becomes obsessed with the rat and goes to war with it, as it proceeds to do the same to him. Nice and simple. If you want it to be, that is. Of Unknown Origin is one of those "it is what you see" movies. I read a review that the movie is a metaphor for writer's block, and I can certainly see that; the rat, gnawing at everything, destroying Burt's life and occupying his attention to an obsessive degree, is like trying to battle through writer's block. OUO's primary conflict could also be a metaphor for Burt's unhappiness in his life (and therefore a commentary on midlife crises); there seems to be some unease within his marriage, his wife doesn't seem to care about the hard work he put into renovating their brownstone all by himself, and he is passed over for a plum role at his job in favor of an account he feels ill-suited for. The rat and his war with it could represent his struggle to be satisfied with life, and the rat's destruction of the home symbolizing how this silent disappointment and resentment with one's station in life can gnaw at the threads holding it together until it comes apart. Or it could just be a black comedy about a guy and a rather large and bizarrely cunning rat. It really could just be that simple, and it still works. The escalating ways he tries to get the rat, the way the rat seems to taunt him by attacking specific, valuable things to destroy, it's all got a sick sense of humor like Tales From The Crypt. Especially in the final act, when Burt goes full Road Warrior on the rat. There is some dark humor to be had watching the war between these two entities spiral into seeming madness, especially since it's, you know, between a human and a rat. The way the rat targets things -- like chewing the paycheck he leaves for an exterminator and leaving its remains to be found on the coffee table, or systematically taking out the utilities one by one over several days -- is goofy as all hell, but there's entertainment value to it, just as there is to seeing Burt try different ideas to trap him and fail like a suburbanite Wile E. Coyote. Director George Cosmotos also makes the keen decision to almost always film the rat in extreme close-up, putting the oily, dirty fir, disproportionately large and gross fangs, and beady eyes right in your face, making the rat take on a monstrous feeling. This isn't just a rat, it's a cunning beast. And Weller does a great job portraying the slow descent into madness, as he puts his job on hold, almost has an affair, and gives up on hygiene as the rat continually outsmarts him. I kept thinking this was building to some kind of last minute rug pull, like the rat isn't real and this has been some like Secret Garden or Fight Club, except it's about a midlife crisis gone super-toxic. And I kinda wish it had, because that's one of the two problems. The movie just kinda ... ends. In fact, the last line feels like the throwaway joke right before the closing credit freeze frame from an ABC TGIF family sitcom. It's not the worst sin, but it did leave me with a feeling of "oh ... that's it?", which is kind of a sour note to end on. But the bigger problem that holds this movie back is the feeling that this wasn't trying to be a black comedy or subtle commentary on [insert your theme of choice here]. This was trying to be a horror movie, straight up. A smarter one, not going for the horror trappings of the time like a body count or gore effects or rampant nudity and mindless characters, but it was trying to be unnerving, and it never gets there. It never gets within shouting distance. There's some moments that made me recoil, but only because they looked like they hurt or were about to hurt. Unless you have a deep phobia of rodents, I don't think this is going to scare anybody. So, while I did get entertainment out of this -- and I appreciate that it comes in at a lean sub-90 minutes -- I don't think I got the entertainment they intended. It's still a good watch, and unlike a lot of black comedies, it doesn't go for shock value or depravity, and I like that. I just don't think it hits the target it was aiming at, and if you come in wanting one thing and getting the other, it may test your patience.