Critic's Grade: B+

Frank's film tip: First-time feature filmmaker Niels Mueller takes an impressive shot at his gritty nostalgic character study THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON

There are only a few actors that can routinely pull off the intensity of playing disturbed anti-social antagonists with the greatest of aplomb. For years, the Oscar-winning Sean Penn has enthralled movie audiences with his well-rounded edgy characterizations thus pitting him as one of an elite group of skillful artists ever to step in front of a camera. Obviously, portraying off-kilter characters with compelling depth is nothing new or unique to Penn's riveting artistry. In writer-director Niels Mueller's absorbing psychological melodrama The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Penn continues the quest for exploring unstable prototypes with indescribable chips on their shoulders.

Mueller's unnerving and nostalgic narrative boasts more than just a catchy and provocative title. The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a razor sharp character study about internal disillusionment and overwhelming disappointment. Sure, there have been other personal thrillers about disenchantment with societal pressures that dutifully carved a niche into the empty psyche of film fanatics. From the deranged examination of Travis Bickle's urban solitude in Martin Scorsese's penetrating Taxi Driver to Billy Bob Thorton's slow-witted but submerged hostile Karl in Sling Blade, Assassination is just another startling offering of one man's twisted idealism running amok in an indifferent society spinning out of his control. In short, Mueller's piercing ode to an unsteady individual with delusional inner rage is oddly poetic and profound. Certainly there have been other motion pictures that have demonstrated the self-destructive mode of mentally ill protagonists with more flash and fury. Nevertheless, this shouldn't exclude Mueller's Assassination from being an unpredictably small film that packs a big-sized emotional punch to the system.

Meet Samuel Bicke (Penn). Sam is the typical walking blueprint of a lost man trying to find himself in a complicated world that passes him by willingly. If this distraught man were a baseball player, he'd have three strikes against him before stepping up to the batter's box. In any event, Sam tries to take a positive step forward but always seems to be taking three steps back. Totally depressed and defeated, Sam's personal life is in the rut. He's been separated from his wife Marie (Noami Watts, Penn's co-star from 21 Grams) and two children. He sits in the hovering shadows of his successful businessman brother Julius (Michael Wincott) whom he doesn't get along with at all. In his tainted mind, Sam just cannot get an even break.

To add more salt to the wound, Sam uneventfully works as a salesman for a furniture store where his motivating boss Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) harbors a spirited attitude in what his employee Sam views as a dead end job. Constantly, Sam is singing the same old song about what a raw deal he has received in this miserable existence of his. Granted that things in everyday life aren't always designed to be fair for everyone and chances are that millions of folks get screwed daily for whatever reason imaginable. Sam is correct--there are corruptive forces out there meant to oppress certain people and that the haves definitely outweigh the have nots in terms of maintaining the status quo. But still, should Sam blame outside factors beyond his control for his own personalized woes in failing to achieve? It seems that this wounded soul should start repairing his own broken heart before commenting on how heartless the surroundings are around him.

Overall, Sam cannot just let go of the lingering angst and allowing the hurt that plagues him like a chronic disease to gradually subside. Despite the wounds that continue to open, Sam doesn't have the sense or given capacity to reach within himself and start his healing process. It's easier to rant and rave and make excuses for his defeatist convictions than it is to challenge the poisonous mindset that is deceptive in his messy way of thinking. Even when Sam does manage to go after something of interest, he quickly unfolds and lets the skepticism gnaw at his nerves. When Sam attempts to apply for a small-business loan at the bank in hopes of opening up a tire store with his black best buddy/mechanic Bonny (Don Cheadle), he becomes agitated and automatically thinks negatively about his chances of securing financial aid for his proposed business.

The propaganda of what's wrong with the world is clouding Sam's judgment and challenging his limited patience. The tension builds up in painful fashion. When will the bank issue a response about his loan? Why must Marie conform to wearing short skirts at a bar where her management insists it will attract patrons do drink more beer? And why does his employer Mr. Jones equate President Richard M. Nixon with being a solid salesman in his ability to sell the idea about trying to pull out the American soldiers out of Vietnam on a couple of occasions to appease the American public?

Speaking about Nixon, Sam develops a fixation on the embittered President since he shows up on the boob tube virtually everyday thanks to his scandalous administration. Needing any excuse to transfer his frustration, he attaches his anger to the troubled Nixon since he's the "master of ceremonies" when it comes to the injustice that's sweeping America. So if you're going to take a stand on all that is wrong with the illusion of the so-called "American Dream" then why not make the "presidential Leading Liar" the one accountable for such outrage? Hence, Tricky Dick should be the recipient of Samuel Bicke's brewing dissatisfaction.

Feeling inadequate about why the arrogant powerful hold such contempt for other misfortunate Americans (mainly minorities or inconsequential working stiffs like himself), Sam fancies the thought of visiting the local radical Black Panthers headquarters and pledges to promote their revolutionary cause. Panther party member Harold Mann (Mykelti Williamson) doesn't know what to make of Sam as he contemplates the notion of merging struggling white folks with the ignored militant blacks and turning the organization into the progressive group known as the Zebras.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is based on a real 1974 event telling the sordid story of an upset American wanting to shake things up by hijacking a commercial airliner in hopes of smashing the White House into smithereens thus ridding the unsettling country of Nixon and his fellow nemesis. Mueller's screenplay and direction is bold in its moodiness and has the knack for tacking on the furious fodder that eats away at the spotty soul of a desperate man whose only release is wallowing in self-pity and self-disgust. This is a marvelously quaint exposition about one reaching his boiling point. Consequently, this is a bleak and poignant look at someone falling apart right before your very eyes. Although some may be turned off by Assassination's four way hybrid in recognition of the Death of a Salesman-Taxi Driver-JFK-Falling Down connection, Mueller's creatively smart concoction is still wondrous in its fervent fortitude.

How fitting that Penn (previously maligned in the media for his unpopular stance regarding America's combative involvement in Iraq) should be the fictional whipping boy to assume the conniving skin of an insignificant schmo wanting to comment on the disenchantment of a presidential agenda through confrontational means. Hands down, Penn reminds us why he's one of the most explosive and daring actors around working in cinema today. His performance is astounding but it's likely that his tour de force acting will be thrown in the shuffle and dismissed as another "self-righteous Sean Penn" exhibit. This would certainly be a crying shame because Penn delivers the goods in this ambitiously seedy and intimate spectacle of a damaged man's moral breakdown.

Frank rates this film: *** stars (out of 4 stars)

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