Maze (film)
Encyclopedia
Maze is a 2000 romance film about a New York painter and sculptor—Lyle Maze (Rob Morrow
)—with Tourette syndrome
(TS) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), who falls in love with Callie (Laura Linney
), the pregnant girlfriend of Maze’s best friend Mike (Craig Sheffer
) while Mike is away on a long stay in Africa as a doctor.
"had a lament that they would never experience love because of this affliction".
Of the film's theme, Morrow said:
s, so "casting himself actually made things a bit easier". Linney was Morrow's first choice for the role of Callie because "he felt the kind of understanding and close rapport he knew would be necessary to bring the two lead characters to life".
gave the film an average rating of 4.9/10 based on 22 reviews.
The New York Times
wrote:
Rob Morrow
Robert Alan "Rob" Morrow is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Don Eppes on Numb3rs and as Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure, a role which garnered him three Golden Globes and two Emmy Award nominations for "Best Actor in a Dramatic Series."-Personal life:Morrow was born in...
)—with Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane...
(TS) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), who falls in love with Callie (Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
), the pregnant girlfriend of Maze’s best friend Mike (Craig Sheffer
Craig Sheffer
Craig Eric Sheffer is an American film and television actor. He is known for his leading role as Norman Maclean in the film A River Runs Through It and of Keith Scott on the television series One Tree Hill.-Early life:...
) while Mike is away on a long stay in Africa as a doctor.
Development
After viewing a documentary on Tourette's, Morrow believed that individuals with TS"had a lament that they would never experience love because of this affliction".
Of the film's theme, Morrow said:
I wasn't looking to do anything about Tourette—I was really thinking about themes of love. It was becoming clear that love is one of the most important things we can experience. I was trying to come up with a character who adapted himself to a life without love. ... My movie is a tribute to anyone with an affliction who thinks they'll never find love.
Casting
Morrow had played a person with TS in the film Second Voices and had already learned to portray ticTic
A tic is a sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movement or vocalization involving discrete muscle groups. Tics can be invisible to the observer, such as abdominal tensing or toe crunching. Common motor and phonic tics are, respectively, eye blinking and throat clearing...
s, so "casting himself actually made things a bit easier". Linney was Morrow's first choice for the role of Callie because "he felt the kind of understanding and close rapport he knew would be necessary to bring the two lead characters to life".
Critical reception
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave the film an average rating of 4.9/10 based on 22 reviews.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote:
But the most grating conceit attempted by Mr. Morrow—who also directed and was a writer of the film—is to plunge inside Lyle's head by playing out several point-of-view scenes with a jittery camera. It's so unimaginative a ploy that you think Mr. Morrow knows he can't get away with it more than once, but that doesn't keep him from trying. ... Despite the practiced hand that Mr. Morrow shows with his actors, Maze becomes a vanity project bathed in poignancy. ... The most facile development of Maze is that it treats Tourette's syndrome as a kind of Muse, a force that Lyle uses to spur him on.
See also
- I Have Tourette's but Tourette's Doesn't Have MeI Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have MeI Have Tourette's but Tourette's Doesn't Have Me is a documentary film featuring children between the ages of six and thirteen with Tourette syndrome...
– An Emmy-award winning 2005 documentary about Tourette syndrome.