Assessing The Damage.
By Kevin Williams

March 23, 2002

Broadway Damage is the story of the three twenty somethings with big dreams, who want fame. First there's the ever tank top wearing Marc, (Michael Shawn Lucas) a wannabe actor who dreams of landing a big part on the Broadway stage; but the first big part Marc takes, belongs to the horny supper of the building in the Village that he wants to rent an apartment in. If you always wondered how Chandler and Joey got their big apartment in New York so cheaply, you can stop wondering. Marc's roommate Cynthia, (Mara Hobel) has wide-eyed ambition and is ready to take the publishing world by storm. So what's a girl with no experience and no marketable skills to do… you guessed it, stalk magazine editor Tina Brown. Some of you pursuers of trivia may remember Mara Hobel as the young Christina, in the Joan Crawford biopic: Mommie Dearest. Completing this kids from Fame trio is the bookish Robert (Aaron Williams,) an aspiring Broadway composer who wants to write show tunes almost as much as he wants the love of his friend Marc.

What's supposed to be a Romantic Comedy about youthful innocence and bravado, plays more like a bad sitcom about three whiny spoiled brats! To say I'm a fan of the Romantic Comedy genre is an understatement. If I had a dollar for every time I watched Meg Ryan fall in love, I'd have enough for a down payment on a large tub of popcorn! I like my Romantic Comedies to be funny and romantic, unfortunately this movie is neither. I might have been able to get over Michael Shawn Lucas' charisma free performance, if the script hadn't called for him and his gal pal roommate to scream and cry when faced with the daunting task of killing a water bug. His character is supposed to be the hunky one, but Michael's endless supply of tight shirts and shorts aren't enough to squish my memory of the bug scene.

In the final act of Broadway Damage, writer director Victor Mignatti, gives his characters (who have less depth than a mud puddle,) a totally ill conceived and undeserved happy ending. I do have to admit after sitting through this 109 minute rough draft that some how became a movie, I couldn't have been happier to see this movie was finally ending.

Kevin Williams presses on Broadway Damage .

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