"Auto Focus" tells the sad, sad true story of Bob Crane, the sitcom star of "Hogan's Heroes" whose life became a rapid downward spiral due to his obsession with sex and homemade pornography. It cost him two marriages, his relationship with his three children, and eventually his life, when he was beaten to death with a tripod in an Arizona motel room in 1978, a murder which is unsolved to this day.
Greg Kinnear, in a very good and convincing performance, plays Crane as a man who is sympathetic and just wants to be liked but is weak in the face of temptation and self-involved. We feel really sorry for him as he lets himself get deeper and deeper into the muck, but it's even sadder because he had no one to blame but himself.
His best friend, John Carpenter (not the horror director), is a tech whiz who always has the very latest video equipment and it is him who led Crane into making homemade pornography. He's played by Willem Dafoe in a great, twitchy performance. Dafoe is so good at playing creepy, greasy characters that it's hard to believe the guy has actually played nice, honorable characters before in movies like "Platoon" and "Mississippi Burning".
There are some problems with "Auto Focus". Even though it has a fascinating story to tell, it never really, REALLY grabbed me the way it should have. The character of Bob Crane is viewed from a distance; even with Kinnear's excellent performance I never felt like I really knew or understood him. As a result, the movie lacks the emotional punch that I felt it should have had.
Greg Kinnear, in a very good and convincing performance, plays Crane as a man who is sympathetic and just wants to be liked but is weak in the face of temptation and self-involved. We feel really sorry for him as he lets himself get deeper and deeper into the muck, but it's even sadder because he had no one to blame but himself.
His best friend, John Carpenter (not the horror director), is a tech whiz who always has the very latest video equipment and it is him who led Crane into making homemade pornography. He's played by Willem Dafoe in a great, twitchy performance. Dafoe is so good at playing creepy, greasy characters that it's hard to believe the guy has actually played nice, honorable characters before in movies like "Platoon" and "Mississippi Burning".
There are some problems with "Auto Focus". Even though it has a fascinating story to tell, it never really, REALLY grabbed me the way it should have. The character of Bob Crane is viewed from a distance; even with Kinnear's excellent performance I never felt like I really knew or understood him. As a result, the movie lacks the emotional punch that I felt it should have had.