Dolan’s Cadillac (2009) Movie Review

As an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, Jeff Beesley’s “Dolan’s Cadillac” is probably too straightforward and unambitious for its own good, which may be ironic to hear, as most of King’s stories that have gone off the rails as movies have been because of their lack of faith to the source material. Although it’s been ages since I last read the King story, much of the movie adaptation feels familiar, and I can’t say if the cinematic version deviates significantly enough from the story to crow about. There are differences, of course, the biggest being a deeper understanding of Dolan’s criminal activities, a necessity given that the story was told from the first-person perspective of the main character, Robinson, who had no inside dish on Dolan and only saw him as a bogeyman coming and going. Curious, then, that the film stumbles when it attempts to explore Robinson’s world as he transforms from mild-mannered sixth grade school teacher to hardened road warrior and, eventually, murderer.

The Dolan of the title is one Jimmy Dolan, a Las Vegas mobster played with delicious scenery chewing times ten by Christian Slater. Dolan makes his living in the sex trade, and when one of his delivery trucks goes off track, he’s forced to take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately for Dolan, the same time he’s cleaning up his mess by way of some well-placed bullets, schoolteacher Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) happens by on horseback. Elizabeth flees, but not before she’s spotted and conveniently drops her cellphone for the bad guys to find. After the hapless local racist Sheriff fails to render assistance, Elizabeth and her husband Robinson (Wes Bentley) go to the FBI. The two are put into federal custody while the investigation into Dolan’s activities commence. Alas, it doesn’t take long before Elizabeth is found and murdered by Dolan’s henchman, the slimy, yet cool Chief (Greg Bryk).

The murder of his wife does not go well for Robinson, who quickly plots revenge. He begins to watch Dolan’s activities, realizing that the mobster always travels from Las Vegas to Los Angeles once every month on the exact same day, on the exact same stretch of road. His means of transportation is his Cadillac SUV, a bullet-proof monstrosity, its charms Robinson witnesses first hand when some Chinese snakeheads try to take Dolan out for a deal gone bad. So how do you avenge the murder of your wife on a mobster that the police can’t touch? Robinson has an idea: he will join a road work crew, learn the trades, and when the opportunity presents itself, literally bury Dolan in his precious Cadillac.

I would like to tell you that the movie version of “Dolan’s Cadillac” is more than the above, but I would be lying. The story is a relatively simple tale of revenge, but it is King’s Edgar Allen Poe-inspired first-person narrative that makes the story worth reading and entertaining. The movie attempts to keep some of King’s prose, but the bottom line is that it is too much of a straightforward adaptation, listlessly tracing the events that leads to Robinson and Dolan’s eventual confrontation. The problem, of course, is that actor Wes Bentley is horribly miscast, and for much of the film he seems to be in a daze, more absent-minded than mild-mannered. Obviously the haze is justifiable after Elizabeth is murdered, but what exactly was Robinson’s excuse before that? As far as I can tell, Bentley’s emotions never really changes throughout the film. He’s a dull, boring teacher before his wife gets killed, and he’s a dull, boring teacher afterwards. Except now he’s got a grudge against some guy name Dolan.

The problem with not believing Robinson’s descent into darkness is that we fail to root for him when he finally springs his trap on Dolan. Since that is basically all there is, and anyone who has read the story already knows what to expect, the treat would be to follow Robinson’s slow trip to hell and back, which takes place over a seven year period in the story, but seems to have taken no more than a few months or so in the movie. The script by Richard Dooling either fails to properly represent that lengthy stay in hell for Robinson, or director Jeff Beesley just isn’t sure how to show it onscreen. The best parts of the movie are the brief spurts of voiceover narration by Robinson taken from King’s story, which gives you some insight into the character’s current state of mind, a state that is, alas, not conveyed by the visuals.

The star of “Dolan’s Cadillac” is without a doubt Christian Slater, who oozes slime from every pore as he waxes philosophical on various topics, including American capitalism, the righteousness of his sex slave business, and his own self-satisfaction with, well, being Dolan. The script by Dooley necessarily diverts quite a bit when it comes to Dolan, since we can’t just follow Robinson throughout the movie. Besides the fact that Wes Bentley is terribly uncharismatic, and the filmmakers don’t really have any idea how to handle Robinson, let’s face it, Dolan is just the more interesting character here. The mobster gets heavily fleshed out, including his strange relationship with his enforcer Chief, who may or may not detest his boss, it’s hard to tell with Greg Bryk’s stoic, killer’s face. Dolan also has a female driver, but if he ever said her name, I didn’t catch it. While Robinson sleepwalks his way through the movie, trying to summon up the guts to take action, Slater as Dolan keeps the film from becoming one big snorefest.

At the core of “Dolan’s Cadillac” should have been the relationship between Elizabeth and Robinson, something the movie could have been able to actually show, whereas the story could only tell of. Alas, it doesn’t come through onscreen. Emmanuelle Vaugier as Elizabeth has little to do before her untimely demise except check her birth control tests and then later, returning as a scarred ghost figure to prod Robinson into action. There are about 20 minutes in the beginning for the film to set up the love story between Elizabeth and Robinson, but the filmmakers use their allotted time so poorly that by the time Elizabeth gets blown to bits, we’re left with the robotic Robinson as our only link to this super relationship we’re supposed to care about. It just isn’t there. As a result, “Dolan’s Cadillac” has no heart and soul, and as a result, the revenge motive is just that – a movie premise.

For me, it was never the trapping of Dolan’s Cadillac that made me curious about seeing the story turned into a movie. It was always the idea of watching a mild-mannered schoolteacher go from teaching sixth graders to plotting the elaborate murder of a mobster, and the lengths he would go to to learn the skills needed for the task at hand. As faithful as the movie is to the original King story, there are aspects of “Dolan’s Cadillac” that I wished the filmmakers had taken more liberties with, including the Elizabeth-Robinson relationship and Robinson’s bottoming out. I just didn’t believe these aspects of the film, and as a result, didn’t really believe in Robinson’s quest for revenge against Dolan. Without that, what’s left but a movie about a guy who digs a hole in the middle of the road?

“Dolan’s Cadillac” is currently only available as a Swedish DVD import. Check your local eBays if you want to take a ride in the latest King story-to-movie adaptation.

Jeff Beesley (director) / Stephen King (novel), Richard Dooling (screenplay)
CAST: Christian Slater … Jimmy Dolan
Emmanuelle Vaugier … Elizabeth
Wes Bentley … Robinson
Greg Bryk … Chief
Darla Biccum … Reba